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Transcript of Politics and Personal Relationships in an Operatic Adaptation
University of ConnecticutOpenCommons@UConn
Doctoral Dissertations University of Connecticut Graduate School
12-21-2016
Robert Ward’s The Crucible: Politics and PersonalRelationships in an Operatic AdaptationRyan F. BurnsUniversity of Connecticut - Storrs, [email protected]
Follow this and additional works at: https://opencommons.uconn.edu/dissertations
Recommended CitationBurns, Ryan F., "Robert Ward’s The Crucible: Politics and Personal Relationships in an Operatic Adaptation" (2016). DoctoralDissertations. 1339.https://opencommons.uconn.edu/dissertations/1339
ABSTRACT
Robert Ward’s The Crucible:
Politics and Personal Relationships in an Operatic Adaptation
Ryan Francis Burns, DMA
University of Connecticut, 2017
American composer, Robert Eugene Ward (1917-2013), made a significant contribution to the
world of musical composition. His most enduring legacy is likely to remain his award-winning
operatic adaptation of Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, which premiered in 1961 by the New York
City Opera. In politics, the personal can often be secondary, but for Ward’s opera, with political
content at its very core, it is essential. By analyzing John Proctor’s relationship with his wife,
Elizabeth, and his former mistress, Abigail Williams, one is able to better understand how the
witchcraft hysteria took hold of a small New England town in 1692.
This dissertation will begin by offering a brief survey of the life and works of Robert
Ward, as well as a summary of the historical events that made Salem notorious in 1692, and of
Arthur Miller’s play. The discussion will then proceed to a consideration of the issues
surrounding opera on political themes, analyzing The Crucible alongside such well-known
operas as Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro, Beethoven’s Fidelio, Meyerbeer’s Les Huguenots, and
Adams’ Nixon in China. This historical background and critical framework will provide the
foundation for a detailed analysis of the important relationships in Ward’s opera, and how these
are to be evaluated in relation to its broader political themes. Finally, a discussion as to how
such an approach might be applied to other operas with political subject matter will be offered.
ii
Robert Ward’s The Crucible:
Politics and Personal Relationships in an Operatic Adaptation
Ryan Francis Burns
BA, Saint Anselm College, 2007
MM, University of Connecticut, 2012
A Dissertation
Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree of
Doctor of Musical Arts
at the
University of Connecticut
2017
iv
APPROVAL PAGE
Doctor of Musical Arts Dissertation
Robert Ward’s The Crucible:
Politics and Personal Relationships in an Operatic Adaptation
Presented by
Ryan Francis Burns, BA, MM
Co-major Advisor: _______________________________
Alain Frogley
Co-major Advisor: _______________________________
Constance Rock
Associate Advisor: _______________________________
Louis Hanzlik
University of Connecticut
2017
v
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the members of my doctoral committee:
Drs. Alain Frogley, Constance Rock, Louis Hanzlik, Linda Neelly, and Peter Kaminsky. In a
special way, I would like to thank Dr. Rock for taking a chance on me seven years ago. The
decision to come to UConn changed my life and I cannot thank you all enough for your guidance
and support.
I am so grateful for the continued love and support of my parents, siblings, and extended
family. I feel so blessed to have come from a home where my passion for the arts was nurtured
and encouraged from a very young age.
And last, but not least, I would like to thank my loving wife, Katie, and my wonderful
children. I would not be here today without you. I dedicate this to you.
vi
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. Introduction……………………………………………………………………… (Page 1)
2. The life and works of Robert Eugene Ward…………………………………….. (Page 5)
3. The historical events of Salem 1692, Arthur Miller’s The Crucible,
& Robert Ward’s operatic adaptation of Miller’s play………………………….. (Page 15)
4. Framing ‘political opera’ focused on The Crucible, and with reference to other political
operas………………………………………………………………..................... (Page 27)
5. The lens of relationship in The Crucible……………………………………….. (Page 67)
Chapter One -
Introduction
American composer Robert Eugene Ward (1917-2013) made a significant contribution to the
world of musical composition. Over the course of his lifetime, he composed eight operas, six
symphonies, three concertos, as well as solo songs, choral works, and chamber music for a wide
array of combinations. Despite the large volume and variety of his compositional output, Ward’s
most enduring legacy is likely to remain his award-winning operatic adaptation of Arthur
Miller’s The Crucible. Ward and his librettist, Bernard Stambler, completed the work in 1961
for its commissioned premiere by the New York City Opera. The opera continues to be
performed around the world in both professional and university settings.
In Salem, Massachusetts, in the year 1692, there were nineteen individuals and two dogs
hanged for witchcraft.1 While long notorious as a part of New England’s history, these events
would be brought into particular focus by the famous American playwright Arthur Miller, in his
1953 play, The Crucible. The play was partially a response to what many saw as the political
equivalent of witch-hunts that took place in the United States during the 1940s and 1950s. Led
by Senator Joseph McCarthy, the House Un-American Activities Committee sought to rid the
country of its “communists”, calling on individuals to “name” those in the party, in a manner not
unlike that by which witches were accused in 1692 Salem. The play was also a reaction to
Miller’s fascination with the events of Salem, of which he first learned in his American History
class at the University of Michigan.2
1 Christopher Bigsby, introduction to Arthur Miller, The Crucible: a Play in Four Acts (New York: Penguin
Classics, 2003), vii. 2 Robert Paul Kolt, Robert Ward’s The Crucible: Creating an American Nationalism (Lanham: The Scarecrow
Press, 2009), 43.
2
“Arthur Miller early on recognized The Crucible’s inherent operatic possibilities and
considered learning how to compose so that he could set the play to music.”3 This approach was
soon abandoned, however, when he was informed by American composer and friend, Marc
Blitzstein, how long it would take him to learn how to compose. Still, it is clear from this
striking anecdote that Miller was thinking of the play in terms of an operatic adaptation almost at
its inception. He first approached Aaron Copland and Carlisle Floyd, but both were busy and
unable to take on the work, thus opening the door for Robert Ward. Despite having been written
over fifty years ago, The Crucible has secured a place in the standard American operatic
repertory.
The purpose of this dissertation is to offer a fresh critical perspective on Ward’s operatic
adaptation of The Crucible. To date, the most comprehensive study of the opera is Robert Kolt’s
Robert Ward’s The Crucible: Creating an American Musical Nationalism, which was developed
out of the author's 2005 dissertation, “Robert Ward’s The Crucible: Creating an American
Musical Accent.” In his book, Kolt seeks to demonstrate Ward’s opera as an example of
American Nationalism due to the way in which the composer ties together the text and music.
He also offers an extensive window into Ward’s personal and professional life, as well as the
events that led to the opera’s creation. Three other dissertations, Charles Woliver’s “Robert
Ward’s The Crucible: A Critical Commentary” (1986), Larry Phillip Fox’s “A comparative
analysis of selected dramatic works and their twentieth-century operatic adaptations” (1992),
and Shannon Laura Benson’s “The Twentieth-Century Operas of Robert Ward” (2010), also
contain extensive analysis of the opera.
3 Ibid., 54.
3
Woliver discusses the opera’s origins in Miller’s play, as well as its ties to McCarthyism.
After offering this background, he goes on to provide detailed analysis concerning the salient
musical components of the work from small melodic motives to large-scale forms. Fox looks at
three operatic adaptations, one of which includes The Crucible, and analyzes the process by
which a play becomes an opera. He also seeks to address the impact that music has on the
spoken word and how these newly created works must be viewed and analyzed in and of
themselves, rather than with the plays they were based on. Finally, Benson analyzes seven of
Ward’s operas, one of which includes The Crucible. For each of the operas included in her
dissertation, she considers their historical background, libretto formation, and musical
composition.
Where this research hopes to offer a new approach to this work, as well as to other operas
that deal with subject matter that clearly has political dimensions, is the emphasis which is
ultimately placed on the political content in our interpretation of the work. In The Crucible, the
core of the opera (however we may interpret the play), is not about “witches” running free in
Salem or the endless fight for property amongst neighbors (accusing someone of being a witch
was a quick way to obtain land). Rather, it is about the emotional and spiritual journey of John
Proctor, a flawed man, and of those closest to him. In the end, the opera is about the
relationships of John Proctor, not the political implications of witchcraft.
This dissertation will begin by offering a brief survey of the life and works of Robert
Ward, as well as a summary of the historical events that made Salem notorious in 1692, and of
Arthur Miller’s play. Then, after tracing the opera’s genesis, the discussion will proceed to a
consideration of the issues surrounding opera on political themes, analyzing The Crucible
alongside such well-known operas as Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro, Beethoven’s Fidelio,
4
Meyerbeer’s Les Huguenots, and Adams’ Nixon in China. This historical background and
critical framework will provide the foundation for a detailed analysis of the important
relationships in Ward’s opera, and how these are to be evaluated in relation to its broader
political themes. Finally, a discussion as to how such an approach might be applied to other
operas with political subject matter will be offered.
The potential importance of this research lies in providing a new approach to the
interpretation of operas dealing with a political subject matter. So often, such political works are
analyzed purely in terms of their perceived ideological symbolism. What idea does this
character represent? Why does the drama take place in this specific location? What political or
ideological meanings does this musical motive convey? While at one level this is certainly a
valid approach, it often tends to minimize the characters as individuals and the relationships
among them; and given that the portrayal of human beings and their interactions, rather than the
representation of abstract ideas, has typically been the greatest strength of opera as an art form,
such a one-sided analysis may overlook a central element of political opera. Furthermore, as
noted above, there is a limited amount of research on Robert Ward’s The Crucible, despite the
work’s popularity and success. This dissertation, therefore, seeks to call further attention to its
significance in the American operatic repertory.
5
Chapter Two –
The Life and Works of Robert Eugene Ward
When one reflects upon the origins of opera one cannot help but think of its extensive European
roots. From the earliest works by Monteverdi and Peri to the operas of Mozart, Verdi, and
Wagner, the genre owes much to its Eastern influences. Despite this rich tradition, however,
American opera has solidified its place in the standard repertory. It continues to honor its past
while forging its own unique identity. One composer who has contributed significantly to this
identity is Robert Eugene Ward.
Ward’s contribution to the world of composition is impressive. Before his death in
2013, he had written “eight operas, six symphonies, three concertos, numerous shorter works for
orchestra, music for wind ensemble, compositions for a variety of instrumental chamber groups,
two cantatas, various genres for vocal ensembles, and songs for solo voice.”4 Despite the large
volume and variety of his compositions, Ward’s legacy will be forever linked with his widely
acclaimed operatic adaptation of Arthur Miller’s The Crucible. Ward and his librettist Bernard
Stambler completed the work in 1961. The opera continues to be performed around the world in
both professional and university settings.
Although Ward’s other operatic ventures have never gained the type of recognition that
The Crucible has, it is worth mentioning that he completed ten operas (and operettas) over the
course of his lifetime. These works include He Who Gets Slapped (1973); formerly Pantaloon
(1953), The Lady From Colorado (1964), Claudia Legare (1973), Abelard and Heloise (1981),
Minutes till Midnight (1982), Roman Fever (1993), and Images of God (no date). His two
4 Ibid., 3.
6
operettas are Lady Kate (1994) and A Name of Napoleon (2005). Ward collaborated with
Stambler on his first four operas: He Who Gets Slapped, The Crucible, The Lady From
Colorado, and Claudia Legare.
Ward’s exposure to the arts came at an early age. “Growing up at a time when relatively
little music was available on radio or through commercially available recordings meant that
music making was largely a home-grown affair for the Ward household.”5 A frequent weekend
activity for the Ward family involved the playing and singing of popular songs and church
hymns. It would even include pieces from well-known operettas. Since all of Ward’s siblings
played instruments including violin and piano, accompaniment was not hard to find. Whether he
realized it or not this time spent making music with his family would set Ward on a path to
becoming a musician. This was not without obstacles, however, given the Great Depression and
the financial impact it had on American families.6
It was in “listening to his older siblings discuss such things as bread lines, labor unions,
socialism, and the perceived failure of capitalism, that Ward began to form the political and
social views that eventually found expression in much of his music, especially the dramatic
works.”7 Just as important toward his introduction to music, provided by his family, were the
ideas they instilled in him of a just world; one where everyone was taken care of. Perhaps in
wrestling with these feelings, Ward found consolation in his music.8
Ward found himself singing in his church choir as his interest in the arts increased, as
well as in local operetta productions in which he performed secondary roles. At the age of
5 Ibid., 3. 6 Ibid., 4. 7 Ibid. 8 Ibid.
7
sixteen, Ward requested various musical resources (orchestration, form, and harmony) for
Christmas so that he could learn how to compose. Soon thereafter, he received an opportunity to
put that knowledge into action from his brother Albert, who asked Robert to write some
incidental music for a play that was to be performed at the Cleveland Playhouse. This planted
the seeds for the operatic and dramatic music he would compose later in life. As a result of the
examples found in his musical textbooks, Ward began to compose in the styles of Debussy,
Hindemith, Ravel, and Stravinsky. In doing so, he was able to learn a great deal about their
compositional practices.9
This excitement toward writing music was almost cut short when he was presented with
an opportunity to attend law school for free. This would have certainly been a safer financial
decision given that his family had almost gone bankrupt; however, Ward was not swayed. His
passion for music and the arts was too great. He was determined to attend the Eastman School of
Music to study composition. This would be one of the most important decisions Ward would
make in his life. Given his work ethic, character, and commitment, he would have no doubt been
a successful lawyer as evidenced by the heavy recruiting he received to do so. He may never
have continued composing either. To make a decision like that only exemplifies his desire to
make music his life’s work.10
Ward’s time at Eastman laid much of the groundwork for his subsequent compositional
practices. During his time there, he studied with Edward Royce, Bernard Rogers, and Howard
Hanson. It was Hanson who would become one of Ward’s most important mentors. Eastman
owes much to Howard Hanson as it was he who helped the school become what it is today. “He
9 Ibid., 5. 10 Ibid.
8
built the institution into one of the finest university schools of music in the Americas, broadening
its curriculum, improving its orchestras and attracting outstanding faculty members.”11 In
addition to his work at Eastman, Hanson was also a successful composer. Some of his most
famous works include the “Concerto da camera, a Grieg-influenced work, and California Forest
Play of 1920.” The latter of the pieces won Hanson the Prix de Rome in 1921. Additionally, his
piece, Mosaics, which was likely inspired by his study of Italian mosaics some years before, has
also garnered much attention. As a writer, Hanson’s most prominent work was his publication,
Harmonic Materials of Modern Music: Resources of the Tempered Scale. This writing helped to
develop what is referred to as the “pitch class set” theory.12
While under Hanson’s tutelage, Ward received training in much of the Classical canon
but was also exposed to the work of more contemporary musicians such as the Finnish composer,
Jean Sibelius. Sibelius was one of Hanson’s most revered composers. Sibelius’ compositions
are:
Distinguished by startlingly original adaptations of familiar elements: unorthodox
treatments of triadic harmony, orchestral colour and musical process and
structure. His music evokes a range of characteristic moods and topics, from
celebratory nationalism and political struggle to cold despair and separatist
isolation; from brooding contemplations of ‘neo-primitive’ musical ideas or
slowly transforming sound textures to meditations on the mysteries, grandeurs
and occasionally lurking terrors of archetypal folk myths or natural landscapes.13
11 Ruth T. Watanabe and James Perone, "Hanson, Howard," Grove Music Online, Oxford Music Online, Oxford
University Press, accessed May 7, 2014, http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/grove/music/12342 12 Ibid. 13 James Hepokoski and Fabian Dahlström, "Sibelius, Jean," Grove Music Online, Oxford Music Online, Oxford
University Press, accessed May 7, 2014, http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/grove/music/43725.
9
It is interesting to reflect upon The Crucible and how Sibelius may have impacted Ward’s
compositional style. This is especially true of the “characteristic moods” Ward was able to
create amongst his leading roles throughout the opera.
As much as Ward’s time at Eastman helped him grow as a composer and musician, it also
developed his managerial capacities. Ward was a popular member of his class and “was elected
treasurer, class president, and eventually, president of the student association. The duties of
these posts enabled Ward to exercise his social and political beliefs formed during the
Depression years, and also whetted his appetite for administrative and leadership/service
positions…”14 This experience would become beneficial later on in Ward’s life in the various
administrative posts he held, which included music director of the 3rd Street Music School
Settlement, Executive Vice-President and Managing Editor of Galaxy Music Corporation and
Highgate Press, as well as the positions he held as Chancellor of the North Carolina School for
the Arts and his professorships at the Juilliard School of Music and Duke University.15
Ward sought to continue his studies of composition after graduating from Eastman and
would stay in New York to do so. Ward received a fellowship to attend the Juilliard School of
Music from 1939 to 1942. While there, he worked with Frederick Jacobi (composition), Bernard
Wagenaar (orchestration), Albert Stoessel (conducting) and Edgar Schenkman (conducting). In
1941, Ward worked with Aaron Copland at the Berkshire Music Center in Massachusetts.16 This
was not the only encounter between the two composers. As a huge supporter of young musical
talent, Copland agreed to meet with Ward in New York City for further coaching and training.
The two developed a close relationship and it has been said that Copland even played some of
14 Kolt, Robert Ward’s The Crucible: Creating an American Musical Nationalism, 6. 15 Kenneth Kreitner, Robert Ward: A Bio-Bibliography (New York: Greenwood Press, 1988), 5-6. 16 Ibid., 3.
10
his own music for Ward, seeking his opinion.17 It is evident by this gesture how much respect
Copland had for the talented young composer.
In addition to the composers mentioned above, Ward would enjoy the company of a great
number of famous American composers and musicians through his schooling and professional
work. These included, “Elliot Carter, Henry Cowell, Douglas Moore, Vincent Persichetti, and
Wallingford Rieger. And during his years at Juilliard, Ward had come into association with
well-known international composers such as Benjamin Britten, Darius Milhaud, and Francis
Poulenc.”18 As a sensitive musician and artist, these relationships would undoubtedly help to
shape Ward as a composer.
Outside of his family and education, the greatest influence on Ward and his music was
his time serving in the military. It was in the army that Ward would meet his future wife, Mary
Benedict. The couple married a year after they met in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Despite this
obvious joy for Ward, his time in the army also exposed him to the tragedies of war. Although
primarily recruited to play and compose music, Ward often found himself in the midst of danger.
He recalls one instance when he and his comrades came upon an enemy soldier. Despite the
group’s desire to take the soldier’s life, Ward convinced them to spare it. The combatant was
then turned over to command where he would eventually provide valuable information regarding
the location of other opposition forces.19 In reflecting upon this, Ward said that he “was happy
to have prevented the killing of an enemy who was surrendering. The irony of the situation was
that perhaps the saving of his life may have resulted in the death of many of his comrades under
17 Ibid. 18 Kolt, Robert Ward’s The Crucible: Creating an American Musical Nationalism, 14. 19 Ibid., 11.
11
our bombardment. Terrible are the fortunes of war.”20 Although his time in the service would
come to an end, the war would have a lasting impact on the composer and his music. Ward
composed the following works while in the service: The Life of Riley (1942), “an all-soldier
review,” Adagio and Allegro (1944), and Jubilation, an Overture (1945). 21
Ward returned to Juilliard to complete his graduate certificate after the war. His time in
New York would be fruitful as it brought about immediate employment opportunities upon his
graduation. Douglas Moore, then Music Department Chair at Columbia University, asked Ward
to teach, as well as direct the university band there. Ward would also return to Juilliard to teach
conducting. The opportunity was made possible by Edgar Schenkman. Ward worked at
Columbia from 1946-1948 and at Juilliard from 1946-1956. President William Schuman would
make Ward his assistant in 1955. As part of this position, Ward would run the newly formed
development office and oversee the institution’s fundraising. Ward continued to be recognized
for both his compositional skills and his ability to lead others. In fact, every organization and
institution with which he was associated sought to use his expertise in both. This made him an
invaluable asset.22
Juilliard would also provide the opportunity for Ward to meet Bernard Stambler, who
would later become his librettist and close friend. As previously mentioned, the two would
collaborate on four operas, the most famous being The Crucible. Stambler would receive all
three of his degrees from Cornell University. The first was a Bachelor of Arts in English (1931),
followed by a Master of Arts in Comparative Literature (1932), and finally, his Ph.D. in
Comparative Literature and Musicology (1938). Stambler was no stranger to music himself
20 Ibid. 21 Ibid. 22 Ibid., 12.
12
having played the violin as a child. Shortly after beginning lessons, he joined the violin section
of the Staten Island Lyric Orchestra. Stambler’s teacher and mentor, Leon Berry, provided him
with his first taste of opera.23 “In 1921…[Leon Berry], who was also a claque leader at the
Metropolitan Opera, invited Stambler to join him. For the next four years, Stambler’s musical
education consisted of mostly attending two or three operatic performances a week.”24
Unbeknownst to Stambler, he would later offer his services and talent to create one of America’s
operatic classics in The Crucible. One would be hard-pressed to find a better medium to learn
about opera than the Metropolitan Opera in New York.
Stambler would be pivotal to the success of the opera, especially given the conventions of
the form. Ward points out that a “play is generally made up of comparatively short lines, though
you do sometimes have soliloquies and longer segments. Because ordinarily a libretto is about
two-thirds the length of the play, a major cutting job has to be done.”25 Ward and Stambler
would go even further in terms of the amount of text they removed in putting together the libretto
for The Crucible. When finished, the libretto included only a third of Miller’s text. Stambler
believed that the “greatest need was to compress the drama into a form best suited for musical
expression” and that “in an opera one must have carefully proportioned, carefully placed musical
climaxes and obviously then, the libretto must justify these musical developments and
climaxes.”26 In compressing the drama, Stambler also believed in working closely with the
composer and whenever possible, the playwright.27
23 Ibid., 53. 24 Ibid. 25 Elise K. Kirk, American Opera (Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 2011), 284. 26 Kolt, Robert Ward’s The Crucible: Creating an American Musical Nationalism, 57. 27 Ibid.
13
The Crucible was not the first collaboration between Ward and Stambler. Roughly ten
years prior, the two began adapting a play by the Russian dramatist, Leonid Andreyev, entitled
He Who Gets Slapped. The Juilliard Orchestra and a number of local professional singers first
performed the opera in 1956. American critic, Howard Taubman, commented that the “libretto
moves and gives the composer opportunity for music.” Irving Kolodin, also a famous critic of
the day, said that the opera was “never quite brought into focus.”28 Overall, the team considered
the work to be a success and decided to continue their partnership by exploring other projects
together.29
“The success of Robert Ward’s The Crucible (1961) has caused him to be considered
primarily as a composer of operas, yet he has written numerous instrumental works throughout
his career.”30 Ward began composing in 1934 and completed over fifty works before completing
The Crucible. As noted before, his compositions are comprised of a wide array of instrumental
and vocal genres. They include songs/cycles for voice & piano, as well as voice and orchestra,
string quartets, orchestral works, chamber ensembles, choral works, woodwind ensembles,
musical revues (swing band, men’s chorus, and soloists), band marches, solo piano works, choral
works, a sonata for violin & piano (and cello & piano), operas, brass choirs with timpani, &
cantatas.31 What is noteworthy about this body of work is the amount of vocal music Ward had
written before even attempting an opera. This experience surely aided him when he moved into
the more complex and vocally demanding genre. While the success of his opera would be based
28 Andrew H. Drummond, American Opera Librettos (Metuchen: The Scarecrow Press, 1973), 109. 29 Kolt, Robert Ward’s The Crucible: Creating an American Musical Nationalism, 16. 30 J. Daniel Huband, “Robert Ward’s Instrumental Music,” American Music 13, no. 3 (Autumn 1995): 333. 31 Kreitner, Robert Ward: A Bio-Bibliography, 12-41.
14
on his ability to write a score in which the music would enhance the text, without solid vocal
writing this process would have been impeded.
Despite the amazing popularity of The Crucible, Ward is much more than an operatic
composer. Ward enjoyed writing in all different mediums and was influenced by a wide array of
composers and musicians, all of whom helped shape his musical voice. Moving beyond his
composing, one recognizes Ward’s deep respect for life and other individuals. Although Ward’s
legacy will be continually linked with his award-winning opera, it is only one aspect of a truly
great artist and an even better man.
15
Chapter Three –
The historical events of Salem 1692, Arthur Miller’s The Crucible,
& Robert Ward’s operatic adaptation
In 1692 nineteen men and women and two dogs were convicted and hanged for
witchcraft in a small village in eastern Massachusetts… their names remain with
us to this day, not least because of Arthur Miller, for whom past events and
present realities have always been pressed together by a moral logic. In his hands
the ghosts who died have proved real enough even if the witches they presumed to
be were little more than fantasies conjured by a mixtures of fear, ambition,
frustration, jealousy, and perverted pride.32
This marked a dark and disturbing time in history where mass hysteria ran rampant and cost the
lives of innocent people. It must not be taken for granted that witches were not conceived by
New Englanders, nor Puritans for that matter. It was a common belief that witches existed for it
was recognized “by the Bible, by all branches of the Church, by philosophy, by natural science,
by the medical faculty, [and] by the law of England.”33 To further exacerbate these times was
the fact that “Puritan theocracy was inherently a cause of personal and social unrest. It stressed a
strict code of ethics for the Puritans believed that ‘no social or political issue was without its
moral dimension as well.’”34 The problem for Salem like many other towns in New England
was the lack of proof needed in accusations. As is seen in The Crucible, all that was needed was
“spectral evidence”.35 As a result of this, accusations rose and mass hysteria ensued.
The first and perhaps most debated motivation for Arthur Miller in writing The Crucible
is the subject’s parallel to the McCarthy era of the 1950’s. During that time, former Wisconsin
Senator, Joseph McCarthy, led a charge to identify all communists living in the United States
32 Bigsby, introduction to Arthur Miller, The Crucible: a Play in Four Acts, vii. 33 George L. Kittredge, "Witchcraft and the Puritans," in 20th Century Interpretations of The Crucible, ed. John H.
Ferres (Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1972), 21. 34 Charles Patrick Woliver, “Robert Ward’s The Crucible: a critical commentary” (DMA, University of Cincinnati,
1986), 17. 35 Kittredge, "Witchcraft and the Puritans," 23.
16
asserting that they were a threat to citizens and the American way of life. These modern day
witch-hunts certainly had an impact on Miller. He once stated that:
It was not only the rise of ‘McCarthyism’ that moved me, but something which
seemed more weird and mysterious. It was the fact that a political, objective,
knowledgeable campaign from the far Right was capable of creating not only a
terror, but a new subjective reality, a veritable mystique which was gradually
assuming even a holy resonance.36
This holds resonance in the play and opera. The girls who were making the accusations felt they
were doing the “holy work of God” by their identifying witches in Salem. The second
motivation for Miller comes in the form of his protagonist, John Proctor. Through him, Miller is
able to present the journey of a flawed man and his conviction of truth and justice.
Arthur Miller first came across the story of Salem 1692 when he was a student at the
University of Michigan. Although Miller would wait many years before beginning work on the
play, his introduction to the Salem witch trials provided the seeds for his award-winning drama.37
As Henry Popkin writes:
[B]efore the play opened in 1953, public investigations had been examining and
interrogating radicals, former radicals, and possible former radicals, requiring
witnesses to tell about others and not only about themselves. The House
Committee to Investigate Un-American Activities evolved a memorable and
much-quoted sentence: ‘Are you now, or have you ever been a member of the
Communist Party?’”38
It is not hard to assume that a similar line of questioning would have happened in Salem
replacing “Communist” for “witch”.
Senator McCarthy led the HUAC (House Un-American Activities Committee) and would
set his sights on those working in the arts. He claimed that they were an imminent threat to the
36 Herbert Blau, "No Play Is Deeper Than Its Witches," in 20th Century Interpretations of The Crucible, ed. John H.
Ferres (Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1972), 61. 37 Bigsby, introduction to Arthur Miller, The Crucible: a Play in Four Acts, viii. 38 Henry Popkin, "Arthur Miller's ‘The Crucible’," College English 26, no. 2 (1964): 139.
17
United States. Aaron Copland even fell subject to such scrutiny having been the subject of a
HUAC investigation as an alleged Communist. As a result of his being investigated, a
performance of his Lincoln Portrait that was scheduled as part of the inaugural festivities for
President Eisenhower was canceled.39 This was a volatile time for artists for fear of being
blacklisted. The only way to not be banned from working was to offer names of those who were
“Communists.”40 The committee sympathized with those who were willing to name others.
Again the parallel to Salem is clear when individuals would name others as “witches” as a means
of saving their own life.
The hysteria became personal when Miller’s own colleagues were being called in to
testify. Probably none closer to him was Elia Kazan, who had directed All My Sons and Death of
a Salesman. In order to save his own career, Kazan cooperated with the committee and named a
number of individuals who he thought to be Communists. “By a strange irony Miller was
returning from Salem, where he had been researching the play, when he heard on his car radio
news of Kazan’s testimony… He was the first of a number of colleagues and friends to capitulate
to the Committee’s demands and blandishments.”41 When Miller was finally called to appear
before the committee, he responded the same way as John Proctor, refusing to name others. He
said that “I am trying to, and I will, protect my sense of myself. I could not use the name of
another person and bring trouble on him.”42 Perhaps if those in Salem exhibited the same
fortitude with which Miller acted when he went before the committee, innocent lives may have
been spared.
39 Jonathan Carr, "politics and music," The Oxford Companion to Music, Oxford Music Online, Oxford University
Press, accessed June 30, 2016, http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/opr/t114/e5263 40 Popkin, "Arthur Miller's ‘The Crucible’," 140. 41 Bigsby, introduction to Arthur Miller, The Crucible: a Play in Four Acts, xii. 42 Ibid.
18
In his autobiography, Arthur Miller stated that:
At first I rejected the idea of a play on the subject… But gradually, over weeks, a
living connection between myself and Salem, and between Salem and
Washington, was made in my mind--- for whatever else they might be, I saw the
hearings in Washington were profoundly and even avowedly ritualistic… The
main point of the hearings, precisely as in seventeenth-century Salem, was that
the accused make a public confession, damn his confederates as well as his Devil
master, and guarantee his sterling new allegiance by breaking disgusting old
vows--- whereupon he was let loose to rejoin the society of extremely decent
people. In other words, the same spiritual nugget lay folded within both
procedures – an act of contrition done not in solemn privacy but out in the public
air.43
Despite an obvious parallel in the Salem trials and those taking place in Washington, Miller
needed a subject worth writing about. In John Proctor, “so patently the enemy of hysteria,”44 he
found such an individual.
There are two layers by which one can view the play. From a social and political context,
the work deals with mass hysteria in seventeenth-century New England. It is of secondary
importance whether people actually believed that their neighbors were indeed witches or were
simply interested in obtaining their property to add to their own. The startling truth is that people
were put death for these accusations. From a personal viewpoint, one can recognize that John
Proctor is desperately trying to move on from his unfaithful past and thereby save his marriage.
What becomes so intriguing about Miller’s play is how he is able to intersect these layers.
Proctor’s wife is accused of being a witch by his former lover, Abigail Williams. For Abigail,
accusing Elizabeth is a clear path to being back with John with whom she is still in love. For
Proctor, this accusation affords him the opportunity to express his commitment to his wife by
standing up in court and exposing Abigail’s true motivation for calling her a witch. His
43 Ibid., x. 44 Richard Hayes, "Hysteria and Ideology in The Crucible," in 20th Century Interpretations of The Crucible, ed. John
H. Ferres (Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1972), 33.
19
unwillingness to sign a false admission and his refusal to name others, though, ultimately costs
him his life.
On January 22, 1953, Arthur Miller’s The Crucible received its premiere at the Martin
Beck Theater in New York City. While the play has now found a place in the regular repertory,
it first ran for 197 performances. This is impressive given its political associations. The play
also won the Antoinette Perry and Donaldson Awards for play of the year.45
As was mentioned earlier, Arthur Miller recognized the operatic potential of the events of
Salem and even considered writing one himself. This is evidenced in an amusing exchange with
his friend, American composer, Marc Blitzstein. Miller inquired as to how long it would take to
compose an opera. Blitzstein responded with a similar question back to Miller regarding how
long it would take him to write a good play. The answer? About twenty years! With this
humbling realization, Miller decided it would be best to explore the work in the medium he knew
best by writing a play.46
Ward’s operatic adaptation was not the first time this type of subject was dealt with in
opera. “Tales of religious fanaticism in New England were the subjects of earlier American
operas, such as Merry Mount by Howard Hanson and Charles Wakefield Cadman’s The Witch of
Salem.”47 It is interesting to consider what influence Hanson’s opera may have had on Ward
given their work together at Eastman.
Despite not being able to write an opera himself, Miller was still intent on setting the play
to music. Ward, however, was not the first composer considered for the job. Aaron Copland and
Carlisle Floyd were first contacted, but both were tied up with other projects. This provided an
45 Kolt, Robert Ward’s The Crucible: Creating an American Musical Nationalism, 45. 46 Ibid., 54. 47 Kirk, American Opera, 284.
20
opening for Ward and Stambler. The composer’s introduction to Miller’s play came by way of
bass, Emile Renan, who was performing in He Who Gets Slapped (another of Ward’s operas).
Renan had seen a production of The Crucible and suggested that Ward and Stambler attend a
performance. The two were considering new material with the success of their first collaboration
together.48 “Ward went see the play and remembers it as a gripping experience. He felt the
possibilities for operatic adaptation were boundless: strong characters, powerful drama, a stirring
message, and an ambience ripe for musical setting.”49 Ward felt it was best to contact Miller
directly regarding the rights to the play. To aid in this process, Ward would call upon his brother
Albert for assistance. Albert was still working in professional theater at the time and was able to
arrange for Miller and his producer, Frank Taylor, to attend a performance of He Who Gets
Slapped.
Miller was impressed by the performance and as a result was open to Ward setting his
play. Ward asked if he would be interested in being his librettist, but Miller respectfully
declined. He cited his busy schedule, as well as his lack of experience. Ward then proposed
using Stambler since Miller had enjoyed the performance of He Who Gets Slapped. Miller
agreed to the suggestion, but with the understanding that the two would provide sample material
for his review. If he approved of their work he would finalize the deal. Initially, he insisted that
the play remain unaltered. This became problematic for Ward and Stambler. They contacted
Miller to explain that the play would need to be reduced in size given the conventions of opera.
Ward was sure that this would end their negotiations given Miller’s initial request. To his great
surprise, however, he agreed.50
48 Kolt, Robert Ward’s The Crucible: Creating an American Musical Nationalism, 55. 49 Ibid., 55. 50 Ibid., 54-55.
21
Miller’s agent, Kay Brown, was extremely aggressive in final negotiations insisting there
be a performance within one year’s time. With a few famous exceptions (Mozart and Rossini,
for example), history has shown that most composers generally take longer than a year to
complete their operas. Additionally, Ward and Stambler were concerned about guaranteeing an
ongoing performance schedule, something Brown was insistent upon. Out of the four major
opera houses in the United States at the time (Metropolitan Opera, New York City Opera, San
Francisco Opera, and Lyric Opera of Chicago) not one was programming new operatic works.
While the New York City Opera would eventually commission Ward’s opera, he and Stambler
could not have planned on such an opportunity at the time of their negotiations. It would be
impossible to guarantee these demands since the piece had not even been written. With Brown
proving to be difficult, Ward and Stambler turned to Miller again for help. They hoped that he
would understand their situation. Miller promptly dealt with their concern by telling Brown to
“give those boys whatever they want!” With that, Ward and Stambler were free to begin their
work.51
With a grant from the Ford Foundation, Ward’s operatic adaptation of The Crucible
received its commission from Julius Rudel and the New York City Opera Company. The opera
premiered on October 26, 1961, at the New York City Center of Music and Drama. That next
year, the adaptation received a Pulitzer Prize and the New York Critics Circle Citation.52
Stambler was keenly aware of two things when he sought to adapt Miller’s play into a
working libretto for Ward. The first and perhaps most important consideration was a good
working relationship with the composer and an awareness of his or her compositional style.
51 Ibid., 56. 52 Robert Ward, The Crucible (New York: Highgate Press, 1962), 3.
22
Going a step further, he believed that a librettist must be so in tune with a composer’s desires
that he could put them above his own. Perhaps due to his personal experience in music,
Stambler once stated that the “librettist is writing for a musical setting and his ideals of
individuality in writing must always be subservient to the music or else he should get into
another business.”53 Acknowledging the necessity of compressing the drama into a workable
entity for the composer, Stambler also believed that given operatic conventions (arias,
ensembles, and so forth), the libretto would need to reflect those things accordingly.
Additionally, he felt that musical swells and climaxes must be built into the libretto in order for
the text and music to complement one another.54
Table 2.1 (found on pg. 24) includes the material that was removed, added, or altered
when Stambler constructed his libretto. In total, about two-thirds of Miller’s play was cut, again
due to the conventions of opera and setting the spoken work to music. In constructing the
libretto, of note are the scenes that Ward and Stambler added between John and Abigail. They
are vitally important to developing their relationship and will be discussed further in Chapter
Five. Ward also chose to feature Tituba and Sarah Good in the opening of Act IV. While only a
brief episode in the play (only two pages of dialogue), Tituba is given an opportunity to sing of
her fate and the community’s in a short aria-like passage. By giving Tituba a solo again, Ward
provides musical closure for this important Act I character and segues between the new scene he
added with John and Abigail, and the deliberations of Hale and Danforth.55
There are other important alterations that were made, which are not included in the table.
The first is regarding Elizabeth Proctor. In the play, it is learned that Elizabeth is pregnant and
53 Kolt, Robert Ward’s The Crucible: Creating an American Musical Nationalism, 57. 54 Ibid. 55 Ibid., 59.
23
as a result, her life is spared despite being accused of witchcraft. Ward and Stambler felt that
since they were not able to fully address this aspect of the Proctor marriage, they must leave it
out of their adaptation. They felt it was sufficient enough that Elizabeth’s life be saved, but not
address how.56 The second set of significant changes comes by way of the condensing of
multiple characters into one. The multiple judges found in the play become a single one in Judge
Danforth. Additionally, Stambler condenses Marshal Herrick, Ezekiel Cheever, and Hopkins
into one character: Ezekiel Cheever. Finally, Stambler delays the appearance of the young girls
of Salem (Mercy Lewis, Susanna Wolcott, Bridget Booth, and Martha Sheldon) until the Act III
trial scene. 57
56 Ibid. 57 Woliver, “Robert Ward’s The Crucible: a critical commentary,” 47.
24
Table 2.1 - Ward and Stambler’s adaptation of Miller’s play 58
Act I Act II Act III Act IV
Deletions: - Scenes with Abigail and her
young friends - An encounter between John
and Abigail (some of this material is used in Act III)
- Arguments amongst secondary characters
Deletions: - Exchanges between Giles
Corey and Francis Nurse - Lengthy discussions
between the Proctors and Reverend Hale
Deletions: - John Proctor’s Speech - Interrogation of Francis
Nurse removed from Trial Scene
Deletions: - None, except Stambler
condenses much of the material
Additions: - N/A
Additions: - N/A
Additions: - Scene in the Woods
between John and Abigail; scene was only present in the original production and took place at the end of Act II, but was later removed by Miller; Stambler combined it with material from Act I (when John learns of false accusations from Abigail)
Additions: - Scene between John and
Abigail; in the play, Abigail is mentioned as fleeing town, but Stambler and Ward felt that the audience needed to see her a final time
Other changes: - Moves the girl’s appearance
to Act III
Other changes: - N/A
Other changes: - Trials moved to the court
building rather than the vestry
- Shortened interrogations of Giles Corey and John Proctor
Other changes: - Scene between Tituba and
Sarah Good is highlighted musically; Ward felt it was important to give Tituba the chance to sing of her fate, as well as the community’s after months of imprisonment
58 Woliver, “Robert Ward’s The Crucible: a critical commentary,” 48, & Kolt, Robert Ward’s The Crucible: Creating an American Musical Nationalism, 58-59.
25
With respect to Ward’s compositional approach to the adaptation, he maintains the four
acts that are found in the original play. Woliver describes Ward’s adaptation as “harmonically,
melodically, and orchestrally conservative. It is continuously expressive and inherently
dramatic. His vocal style is lyrical and singer-oriented. His orchestra is often a source of
commentary and contrast.”59 There is a definite relationship between the drama that plays out on
stage and the music found in Ward’s score. Both serve in aiding the other with respect to
portraying the tragic events of Salem 1692.
With respect to form, Ward uses all the conventional structures one would expect from
opera including arias, duets, quasi-recitative, and ensembles. While some would argue about the
success of these individual structures against other examples found in the operatic canon, they
are nonetheless present in The Crucible. They are used more like that of Verdi’s through-
composed operas, Otello and Falstaff, than that of Mozart. Ward is careful not to create any type
of finality in moving between these sections. Instead, he moves through one scene to the next in
seamless fashion. This is done to keep the drama continuous.60
Perhaps most memorable are Ward’s arias, which do much to establish the
characterization of his leading roles. John’s aria to open Act II presents a man yearning for
brighter days, while Elizabeth’s aria serves as a response to what he has just told her and is
particularly striking with respect to establishing the tumultuous state of their marriage. There are
important moments for the ensemble, as well. From the unison chorus that ends Act I to the
hysteria ensued mob of Act III, Ward masterfully places his ensembles to further the audience’s
understanding of the opera’s dramatic tension.
59 Woliver, “Robert Ward’s The Crucible: a critical commentary,” 51. 60 Ibid., 67.
26
Harmonically, the opera is traditional in terms of 20th-century music. Much of the score
is composed diatonically; however, Ward does use dissonance for dramatic effect. “Ward
wanted the musical ambience of the piece to depict the American colonial period, yet the music
also had to capture the hysteria of witchcraft.”61 To aid in this process, he was extremely
sensitive to how he used rhythm in his adaptation. Ward once said that “I would venture to say
that the most powerful element of all in Verdi, in Mozart, and even in Wagner and certainly
Bizet, is the rhythmic drive which sets up and underlies the drama.”62 This is accomplished in
the opera by use of both simple and compound meter and his ease in moving from one to the
next. Again, both melodically and harmonically, Ward is concerned with propelling the drama
forward.63
There are two versions of the opera with respect to its orchestration. The first, which was
used in the New York City Opera premiere, consists of two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, two
bassoons, four horns, two trumpets, two trombones, timpani, percussion, harp, and strings. Some
critics have stated that this original version of the score is too heavy, especially in the sections of
brass. The result is that in some instances, the singers are covered. Some twenty years later, the
Chicago Opera Theater commissioned Ward to create a reduction of the original orchestration.
This version includes two flutes, one oboe, two clarinets, one bassoon, two horns, two trumpets,
one bass trombone, timpani, percussion, harp, and strings. This version addressed the issue of
the orchestra being too heavy, as well as provided the opportunity for the opera to be performed
in smaller settings.64
61 Ibid., 71. 62 Ibid., 76. 63 Ibid. 64 Ibid., 83.
27
Chapter Four –
Framing political opera
Since politics comes from the Greek word “polis,” meaning community or citizen, and deals with
the governing of said individuals, it is natural then that an opera could be classified as political.65
Most operas revolve around the interactions of their main characters within the society they live
regardless of their location or time period. Irrespective of an opera’s origin, whether it comes
from a piece of literature, past event, or is something completely new, looking at how its main
characters fit into society provides an opportunity to discuss its political content and perceived
associations. It is not sufficient to simply say something is political for there are different sub-
types that must be considered.
The first and perhaps most obvious way that an opera can be deemed political is a work
based on historical events. An example of this is John Adam’s Nixon in China. With a basic
knowledge of American history, one would know that a visit from a United States President to
China would have political ramifications in the 1970s. As will be discussed later, the work
becomes increasingly personal; however, its surface level associations are overtly political.
Many historical and political events have been driven by a struggle over status or the
influence of groups in power. So, even without being tied to specific events, an opera can be
identified as political through its portrayal of these types of issues. An opera does not
necessarily have to be serious to do so as can be seen in Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Le nozze
65 Merriam Webster Online, s.v. “politics,” http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/politics (accessed July 1,
2016).
28
di Figaro. Here, Mozart deals with the cultural expectations of power and status, but in a
comical way.
An opera can also be political in the ideology it presents and addresses through major
institutions such as government or religion. One example of this is Ludwig van Beethoven’s
Fidelio, which has long been associated with the French Revolution. The work is centered upon
the ideals of freedom and justice and calls into question the government’s oppressive ideology.
The institution of religion also plays a significant role with respect to ideology. In Giacomo
Meyerbeer’s Les Huguenots, the historical battle between Protestants and Catholics in France is
brought into focus and intersects on a personal level when a man and woman from either side fall
in love.
A final type of political opera, which is represented by Ward’s The Crucible, is one that
is an allegory for something else. Using the events of Salem 1692, Miller was able to address the
modern day witch-hunts taking place in the United States during the 1950s in a period known as
the McCarthy Era. It could be argued that the parallel between the two points in history, which
was one of the central motivations for Miller, is less of a concern for Ward. Even so, the
operatic adaptation represents a sort of hybrid political work. The opera addresses both the
political climate in Salem 1692 while suggesting a parallel to the 1950s.
As can be seen from the following analysis, an opera need not be just one of these types,
but like Ward’s The Crucible can be a mixture of these different classifications.
A. Historical events
As mentioned above, the most overt type of political opera is one based on historical events.
Despite its modern-day associations to McCarthyism, the events of Salem 1692 were political in
29
and of themselves. The theocratic government represented by both local officials and the church
sought to rid its community of witches. The prospect of witches upset the social fabric of Salem
and there were those who believed that the only way to rid the town of such atrocities was to
confess or hang.
In The Crucible, the gravity of the situation is felt right away in Act I with Reverend
Parris’ grave concern for his daughter, Betty. He kneels at her side convinced that she has been
touched by the devil. How horrifying it must be for a minister of the church to fathom a witch
entering his own house. Ward begins Act I with frantic music in the orchestra. A rising passage
in the strings and woodwinds spans over three octaves and is accented with striking chords in the
brass and percussion. The material reaches a fever pitch in mm. 3 – 6 with a repeated two-bar
phrase. The 12/8 time signature anxiously pushes the music forward before Reverend Parris’
first vocal entrance (Example 4.1):
30
Example 4.1:
66
In this opening, the dramatic weight is felt immediately. Without knowing Miller’s play or even
having read the libretto Ward masterfully sets a serious tone for his adaptation. This is similar to
the way in which John Adams opens his Nixon in China.
Ward begins each of his scenes with programmatic orchestral music, which helps to set
the tone for the ensuing drama. In Act III, Scene II, the audience meets Judge Danforth for the
first time. It is he who will ultimately determine the fate of those accused in Salem. In a
distinctly triumphant fashion made possible by the brass, the following passage marks
Danforth’s entrance on stage (Example 4.2).
66 Ward, The Crucible, 7.
31
Example 4.2:
67
This music is confident in nature with a hint of arrogance, quite fitting for a man who has already
made up his mind about how to proceed. Danforth asks the Lord to speak through him so that
the government which he represents and the church may rid Salem of its evil. The example also
features John Proctor’s theme, which returns as he enters the courtroom.
A more modern example of this type of political opera is Nixon in China by John Adams.
Adams is one of the most prolific American operatic composers in recent history. His works,
which include Dr. Atomic (a work that deals with the social and ethical considerations of the
construction of the first atomic bomb68), have become popular in the American operatic repertory
and around the world. Another of his operas, The Death of Klinghoffer, which received a recent
67 Ibid., 179-180. 68 Sarah Cahill, "Adams, John," Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online, Oxford University Press, accessed June
30, 2016, http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/grove/music/42479.
32
revival at the Metropolitan Opera in 2014, continues to spark serious political debate due to
accusations of anti-Semitism. Adams has become identified as one of the most explicit
composers with regard to politically charged subject content, which he often sets to minimalistic
scores.
Work on Nixon in China began in 1982 and was completed in 1987. Adams teamed with
librettist, Alice Goodman, and director, Peter Sellars, for this project. The three would go on to
collaborate again for The Death of Klinghoffer (1991).
Nixon in China is centered upon Richard Nixon’s Presidential visit to China in 1972. The
work:
[I]s divided into three acts, each of which is shorter than the last. Act I contains
three scenes: Nixon’s triumphant arrival at the Peking airport, where Chinese
Premier Chou En-lai waits to greet him; the meeting between Chairman Mao Tse-
tung and President Nixon, alongside their aides; and the banquet where Chou and
Nixon toast each other heartily and give speeches about the beginning of this new
era of dialogue between the two nations. Act II contains two scenes: Pat Nixon’s
grand sightseeing tour of China in the area around Peking and the revolutionary
ballet that was presented for the President and American visitors by Chiang (or
Madame Mao). Act III contains only a single act (and often Acts II and III are
presented without an intermission): the dignitaries, having returned to their
chambers following the week of meetings, reminisce about past experiences, and
have more in common with each other than they might even have imagined.69
On a large scale, the work can be seen to overtly deal with the political dichotomy of Eastern and
Western culture. However, as will be referenced in the following chapter, this is not the ultimate
point of the opera for Adams, but rather a gateway into these characters’ humanity.
69 Timothy A. Johnson, John Adams's Nixon in China: Musical Analysis, Historical and Political Perspectives
(Farnham, Surrey, England: Ashgate, 2011), 21.
33
Adams’ Nixon in China begins similarly to Ward’s opera with respect to setting a serious
tone. The orchestral opening lasts for 77 measures and establishes the gravity of this historic
visit. The central melodic figure is an ascending A-minor passage, which repeats every
consecutive measure until m. 30 (Example 4.3).
Example 4.3:
70
The texture of this motive, as well as what is realized by the other sections of the orchestra
above, creates a sense of motion. Adams takes his audience on a journey to a distant place – one
that is not yet understood. He states that “It seemed to me when I thought of the Long March
and of the vastness of the country, and the millions and millions of people, that the repetitive
quality of these ascending A minor scales was a perfect way to set that tone.”71 The music here
is neither cheerful nor patriotic, which is similar to the opening of Ward’s opera. Like that of the
opening to Florestan’s aria in Fidelio, it is dark and oppressive.
Of the opening, “[w]ith the simultaneous presentation of metrical and harmonic
consonance and dissonance, Adams musically depicts this divergence in point of view…The
music…contributes significantly to one of the main conflicts of the opera, the differing
70 John Adams, Nixon in China (London: Boosey & Hawkes, 1987), 1.
71 Johnson, John Adams's Nixon in China: Musical Analysis, Historical and Political Perspectives, 28.
34
perspectives of East and West.”72 The music is unrelenting in this section, which does much to
establish the work’s political tone.
Shortly after President Nixon arrives at Peking airport he sings his famous “News Aria.”
This is the first glimpse of Nixon’s humanity; however, it is more like a caricature of what a
politician is than anything sincere. This was intentional by Adams.
Nixon, in his ‘News’ aria, immediately establishes that the priorities of the
journey are symbolic; indeed, he likens his landing in Beijing to that of the Apollo
astronauts who landed on the moon, and notes that because it is prime television
viewing time in the USA, his arrival will be witnessed by the maximum possible
audience.73
Pompously obsessed with his place in history, Nixon ignores the Chinese welcome and instead,
sings of his triumphant visit. The bombastic reeling music, which accompanies his vocal line, is
central in painting the picture of an arrogant American politician who has everything to offer, but
nothing to learn (Example 4.4). This is important for its contribution to the tension, which exists
between the Americans and the Chinese.
In composing the opera, Adams once said that “[o]ne of the principal things that
interested me was the typically American sense of assumed superiority. These Americans were
coming to China with the tacit assumption that American culture is by far the better one.”74
Nixon is not without his doubts, though, as evidenced towards the end of the aria when at the
bottom of his vocal range, he sings that “the rats begin to chew the sheets,” over and over, as if
72 Ibid., 33. 73 Allan Kozinn, "Nixon in China," The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, Grove Music Online, Oxford Music
Online, Oxford University Press, accessed February 13, 2015,
http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/grove/music/O903478. 74 Andrew Porter and John Adams, “'Nixon in China': John Adams in Conversation,” Tempo, New Series,
Cambridge University Press, no. 167 (Dec. 1988): 26, accessed February 13, 2015,
http://www.jstor.org/stable/945213.
35
in a trance. His unsteadiness is felt in the fragmented orchestral accompaniment, as well. Up
until now, there have been no breaks in the aria despite changes in meter and harmony. As
Nixon’s thoughts become increasingly paranoid, however, the music becomes rather jagged.
This feeling is enhanced with the chorus speaking “the rats begin to chew the sheets” under his
repeated vocal line (Example 4.5).
Example 4.4:
75
75 Adams, Nixon in China, 27.
36
Example 4.5:
76
The mood shifts quite drastically at the start of Act II with Pat Nixon’s double-aria, which
she sings on her sightseeing tour. As an ambassador for her country, the first lady begins
stoically but soon opens up into a deeply caring and sensitive individual. This is far from that of
her ego-driven husband. She repeatedly sings, “I treat everyday like Christmas. I come from a
poor family. Trivial things are not for me.” In this way, she is able to create a bond with those
she is visiting. “Marked by a deliberate plainness, Pat’s music is quite different from the
grandiloquence of Nixon's; anything else would detract from her poetic and historical
character.”77 This simplicity in the musical texture enables the audience to see Pat as human
rather than some dominant political figure. “A sense of timelessness and tranquility is recreated
in the prophecy of Pat's aria... Her words speak of everyday values with which Chinese and
American can identify; a genuine poetic rapprochement is occurring here.” Pat’s Act II opening
allows Adams to begin shifting the focus from the dominant East vs. West political theme and
move it inward.
76 Ibid., 39. 77 Matthew Daines, “'Nixon's Women: Gender Politics and Cultural Representation in Act 2 of 'Nixon in China',”
The Musical Quarterly, Oxford University Press 79, no. 1 (Spring 1995): 9, accessed February 13, 2015,
http://www.jstor.org/stable/742514.
37
The next noteworthy historical scene comes at the end of Act II with President Nixon and
his wife attending a performance of The Red Detachment of Women. The work is “a visually
striking revolutionary opera/dance performance piece in which the actresses are clad in Mao
suits, bayonets and ballet slippers. The story… takes place during the political chaos just prior to
the Communist takeover (1927-37)…”78 The ballet involves a poor girl (Ching-hua) who is
ravaged and beaten by the “landlord’s factotum,” Lao Szu. In the opera, the role of Henry
Kissinger plays Lao (making it a play within a play). Eventually, the girl is able to free herself
from Lao, find company with a soldier in the army, and then join the Detachment of Women
within the Communist Party. With the help of her fellow soldiers, she is able to rescue the rest
of her village.79
With respect to the opera, the section leading up to Lao (Kissinger) crying out “Whip her
to death!” is particularly striking both musically and dramatically for the audience. With the
orchestra rocking back and forth between triple and duple meters, the brass enters with a series
of harsh, syncopated chords. Before Lao has spoken a word, the audience feels the girl being
beaten (Example 4.6). As Kissinger begins to sing “Whip!” over and over again, the orchestra
creates a whipping feeling with two consecutive chords that follow his line.
78 “Red Detachment of Women (1971),” accessed February 13, 2015,
http://www.nytimes.com/movies/movie/155232/Red-Detachment-of-Women/overview. 79 Thomas May, ed., The John Adams Reader: Essential Writings On an American Composer (Pompton Plains, N.J.:
Amadeus, 2006), 118.
38
Example 4.6:
80
Overwhelmed with despair by what she is seeing, Pat Nixon runs on stage to try and stop
the ballet believing that it is real. Begrudgingly, Nixon chases after her to restrain her. This is
one of the most intense moments in the opera. Adams clearly defines the differences between
Nixon and his wife with regard to their humanity. Although this scene is only symbolic, the
audience is sympathetic towards Pat since she sides with Ching-hua. Nixon is left looking cold
and heartless with his lack of empathy towards the situation.81
80 Adams, Nixon in China, 215. 81 Matthew Daines, “'Nixon's' Women: Gender Politics and Cultural Representation in Act 2 of 'Nixon in China',”
The Musical Quarterly, Oxford University Press 79, no. 1 (Spring 1995): 22-24, accessed February 13, 2015,
http://www.jstor.org/stable/742514.
39
B. Power & Status
In any simple or complex society, there exists a social hierarchy, which provides order and
cultural expectations for those living in it. The social fabric falls apart without this. While
societies can differ with respect to who holds the power or control and how much of it they have,
there becomes a delineation between those with it and those without. Why is this important with
respect to political opera? It helps the audience understand where characters fall within a
society. Ultimately, it answers the question of whether they are the ones giving orders or those
receiving them. It establishes whether they have power or not. This then has political
ramifications as is played out in The Crucible.
By surveying the principal operatic characters of The Crucible, one finds three groupings
of individuals with respect to power (Table 4.2). These classifications take into account one’s
occupation, wealth, and perceived status in the town of Salem.
Table 4.2 – Character groupings with respect to power and status in The Crucible (opera):
HIGH MIDDLE LOW
Judge Danforth Reverend Hale
Reverend Parris Thomas & Ann Putman
Abigail Williams (due to her relation to Parris)
Girls Ezekiel Cheever
John & Elizabeth Proctor Mary Warren
Giles & Martha Corey
Tituba
40
These classifications are not permanent in the opera, especially when the witchcraft accusations
become more frequent. Take for example the Proctor’s servant, Mary Warren. She takes on a
higher status and asserts more power in Act III when she turns on John in the courtroom scene.
Here, she joins the mob mentality of the court calling John the “Devil’s Man.” Conversely, the
Proctors take on a lower status as the drama unfolds and they are accused of being witches.
While certainly not the most powerful people at the start of the opera, what power the Proctors
did have, they begin to lose as the town turns on them.
This is important in The Crucible because it shows that the highest classes control the
social narrative. This could be said of modern society, as well. In Salem, the authority is
represented by the government (Judge Danforth), clergy (Reverends Parris and Hale), and the
rich (Thomas Putnam). Despite being a congregation, those of lower status are expected to
follow the mores set forth by those in power.
An example of this comes in Act I of the opera in an exchange between Thomas Putnam
& John Proctor regarding how the town should handle the witchcraft accusations.
JOHN PROCTOR: And speakin’ of poppy cock, Mister Putnam, I hear you’ve sent for
Reverend Hale. How is that you can without the congregation’s vote?
THOMAS PUTNAM: Me act without…
REVEREND PARRIS: Thomas did well. It’s what we need.
PROCTOR: And by whose decision, may I ask?
Later John says:
PROCTOR: I never spoke a word on witches, one way or another. But your acres do not
command her sir. This society acts on the vote of all.82
82 Robert Ward, The Crucible (New York: Highgate Press, 1962), 41-45.
41
For John Proctor, it is the entire community that must decide how to proceed with the question of
witchcraft, not certain individuals. “Proctor represents the view of society held by
Enlightenment thinkers – the society should be founded on the common good, as agreed upon by
all reasonable men.”83 But that would assume that everyone’s opinion holds equal weight in
Salem, which as the opera unfolds is not the case. John Proctor questions the notion that due to
Thomas Putnam’s affluence he should have the deciding vote.
Although initially hesitant to the idea of Reverend Hale coming to Salem, Putnam is
quickly able to convince Parris otherwise. Parris wrestles with the idea that witches could exist
under his ministerial watch but ultimately succumbs to the pressure of Putnam. He is able to
wipe his hands clean of the situation by “believing” in witches. Although Abigail Williams
works as a servant, though she has not been hired since she left the Proctors, it is her relation to
her Uncle Parris that allows her access to the highest class in town. By being a part of that she is
able to make unsubstantiated claims of witchcraft as are the other girls. It is an interesting
phenomenon that the children could have such an effect on the adult population of Salem.
Ordinarily in society, one would not think of children as having the highest status because they
are viewed as not fully mature nor developed. During this time of accusation, however, they
maintained a significant amount of power socially.
What is interesting in the opera, however, is the way in which a type of secondary
classification begins to shift the social hierarchy in Salem. There becomes a delineation of those
who accuse and those who are accused, which coincides with those who believe in witches and
those who do not. It cannot be accepted that all those who accused others believe in witches
83 John H. Ferres, "Introduction," in 20th Century Interpretations of The Crucible, ed. John H. Ferres (Englewood
Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1972), 10.
42
despite the fact that it was a common practice of the time. There were other motivations to do
so.
Abigail Williams knows that if she accuses Elizabeth, and she hangs for it, she will have
easier access to John. Does this mean she believes in witches? Probably not. As noted above,
even John Proctor has not publically provided a stance on either side of the issue. This
delineation is important because it blurs the idea of class and status in Salem. Miller once said,
“The society of Salem was “morally” vocal. People then avowed principles, sought to live by
them and die by them. Issues of faith, conduct, society, pervaded their private lives in a
conscious way. They need but to disapprove to act.”84 It seems that the louder one disapproved
the more power they gained. This is not unlike Senator McCarthy and his unfounded, but
rampant accusations during the 1950’s.
As a result of local officials having the power to control how decisions are made, they are
in turn able to reshape cultural expectations. They are able to determine right from wrong, which
could benefit them in the acquisition of resources. Throughout the opera, Giles Corey makes the
claim that by accusing people of witches those in power are able to take their property. In the
first act of the opera, he says the following to Thomas Putnam and Reverend Parris:
GILES COREY: Twisting, twisting! That’s the word for you, the very word for you. Your
father stole half of his neighbor’s land and piously claimed it his duty. Now you sound the horn
for a witchhunt with an eye for grabbing the rest.85
This comes back again in the second scene of Act III when Corey’s case is presented to Judge
Danforth:
84 Arthur Miller, Arthur Miller’s Collected Plays (New York: Viking Press, 1957), 44. 85 Ward, The Crucible, 33-34.
43
CHEEVERS: This is the statement of Giles Corey: I do hereby swear that Thomas
Putnam did prompt his daughter Ruth to cry out witch on Rebecca Nurse and my wife
Martha Corey. And that he did this not from any Godly motive but only to acquire the
land to which these women hold title. Sworn and attested.86
Following the rest of the encounter, Judge Danforth presses Giles Corey to submit proof of such
claims. He responds with:
COREY: Why the proof is in the thing itself. If my wife hang she forfeit land.
DANFORTH: Yes, that is the law. Go on.
COREY: But is it not then clear to you? Who here is Salem has the coin to but it up?
None but Putnam, Thomas Putnam.87
This is still not enough evidence for Judge Danforth. Although pressed to offer names to
corroborate his claim Corey refuses for fear that they might hang. A similar event happened to
Arthur Miller when he was called to testify in 1956. He refused to offer names of those he
attended a meeting with, some of whom he believed to be Communists. As a result of his
refusal, Miller was held in contempt of Congress in 1957. This was later overturned the
following year.88 Given Putnam’s prominence and manipulative power in the town, he is able to
turn Corey’s claim around by raising the question that if he is such an honest man, why would he
hold back the truth? Putnam infers that if Corey is unwilling to tell the “whole truth” then he
must associate with the Devil. Corey continues to refuse and as a result is ordered to be pressed
by stones, which ultimately takes his life.
The idea of an opera focusing on power and status is nothing new. One of the most
popular works in the operatic canon is Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro. While the opera is an
86 Ibid., 184-185. 87 Ibid., 186-187. 88 Woliver, “Robert Ward’s The Crucible: a critical commentary,” 21.
44
example of opera buffa or comic opera, the work similarly presents the idea of status like that of
The Crucible. Unlike Ward’s opera, which involves life or death situations, there is no real loss
in the end of Mozart’s opera. Besides perhaps the death of the Count’s ego, the opera finds a
comical way to turn the class system on its head.
Although a comedy, “Beaumarchais poked fun at the dissoluteness of the upper classes
and at the legal procedures of the time…emphasized the enslavement of the lower orders, and
bitterly attacked the power placed in the hands of undeserving men merely because they were
born into a certain class of society.”89 The Count, who has gained considerable status as the
head of the house in the second of the Beaumarchais’ trilogy, is hell-bent on exercising his
feudal right to sleep with Susanna before her wedding day. If the Count is of the highest status,
and as servants, Figaro and Susanna are of the lowest, it would be assumed that he would be the
most intelligent. As the opera proves, however, the lower classes are to be respected as it is they
who are able to outwit the Count with the help of the Countess.
In Act III, Count Almaviva finally realizes that his servants are plotting against him. In
his famous aria, “Hai gia vinta la causa”, he furiously laments the idea that while he is full of
despair his servants are happy. With the exception of the Act IV finale, this is the deepest bit of
introspection that the Count experiences in the opera. He must come to terms with the fact that
he is not the smartest one in the house. In the aria’s opening recitative he sings “In qual laccio
cadea?” meaning “in what trap have I fallen into?”90 The aria is like a pendulum in that the
89 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Lorenzo Da Ponte, Le Nozze Di Figaro: The Marriage of Figaro, an Opera in
Four Acts, Vocal Score, including the Secco Recitatives (New York: G. Schirmer, 1951), vii-viii. 90 Jane Bishop, "Hai Gia Vinta La Causa...Vedro Mentr'io Sospiro," Aria Database, accessed July 01, 2016,
http://www.aria-database.com/search.php?individualAria=227.
45
Count teeters back and forth between arrogant confidence and deep insecurity. In the aria proper
(Table 4.3), he sings:
Table 4.3 – Translation of “Hai gia vinta la causa” 91
Vedrò mentrio sospiro Felice un servo mio? E un ben che invan desio, Ei posseder dovrà? Vedrò per man d'amore Unita a un vile oggetto Chi in me destò un affetto, Che per me poi non ha?
Shall I, while I'm sighing, See one of my servants happy? And the good thing I want in vain, Shall he have it? Shall I see the woman who woke in me A feeling she doesn't have for me United to a vile object By the hand of love?
While he ultimately resolves to continue his plight to have his way with Susanna, the aria shows
a vulnerability in the Count. It makes him consider his own status within the house. It makes
him question just how powerful he really is.
A modern adaptation of Le nozze di Figaro is gaining significant attention and notoriety
in the United States. Figaro 90210, which was created last year by the Los Angeles Opera,
features the following updated synopsis:
Undocumented workers Figaro and Susanna can't wait to get married, but on their
way to the altar they'll have to navigate a world of lecherous bosses, Botoxed
starlets, bumbling human traffickers, ambitious hip-hoppers, and pothead
gardeners... not to mention a whole lot of sexting... in a wild adventure that
recasts the classic opera as a madcap comedy about citizenship in today's
America.92
The production has a new English libretto and has brought this timeless opera into the twenty-
first century with topics that are relevant today. As this adaptation deals with such issues as
91 Ibid. 92 "Figaro 90210," Figaro 90210, accessed July 01, 2016, http://www.figaro90210.com/#!about/c1x9v.
46
citizenship, human trafficking, and illicit drug use in the United States, it illustrates that
regardless of time period and location, there will always be a struggle for status and power.93
C. Institutional Ideology
A third way in which an opera can be political is in the ideology it presents, especially through
major institutions. An example of this is Beethoven’s Fidelio. “As an opera abounding with
symbols from the Revolution, Fidelio derives its political character through its pervasive concern
with republican virtue, both male virtue (fidelity to the state) and female virtue (fidelity to the
husband).”94 The opera has long been associated with the French Revolution and the ideals of
freedom and justice.
Fidelio is a work in two acts, first composed in 1805 with a libretto by Joseph von
Sonnleithner. The original libretto received two revisions: the first in 1806 by Stephan von
Bruenig and the second in 1814 by Georg Friedrich Treitschke. It is the 1814 version that is
typically performed today. The opera was adapted from a play by Jean Nicolas Bouilly, entitled
Léonore, ou L’amour conjugal, which was founded on a historical event that occurred during the
Reign of Terror. The play, however, moves the action from France to Spain.95
This was not Beethoven’s first attempt at opera. In 1803, he worked on Emanuel
Schikaneder’s Vestas Feur. Schikaneder is most famously known for being the librettist to
Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte in addition to creating one of its signature roles, Papageno. Beethoven
93 Ibid. 94 John Bokina, Opera and Politics: From Monteverdi to Henze (New Haven, Conn.: Yale Univ. Press, 1997), 66. 95 Ibid., 70.
47
quickly moved on from Schikaneder’s libretto, though, and took up work on Bouilly’s Léonore
in 1804 instead.96 The opera is:
Set in Spain at an unspecified date… [and] concerns an aristocrat, Florestan,
vindictively imprisoned by a tyrannical governor of the local prison. The
prisoner’s wife, Leonore, disguises herself as a young man named Fidelio – thus
making us see her double through most of the opera – to get work in the prison
and discover if her husband is still alive. She prevents him from being executed,
and the king’s minister completes the rescue and punishes the guilty governor.97
The political overtones in Fidelio are established before a single note is played. The setting for a
drama must not be overlooked when considering its political viewpoint. With the opera being set
in a prison there creates a division of two opposing groups of people: those imprisoned and those
who are free. It is the yearning for freedom that is the central ideal throughout the opera.
There are specific moments in the opera that enhance the audience’s understanding of the
themes present in the work: that of injustice and freedom. The first example comes by way of
Beethoven’s use of the chorus. He “treats the chorus – the brief chorus of guards in Pizarro’s
aria excepted – as the voice humanity confronted by tyranny and subjugation, with the prisoners’
chorus at the start of the Act I finale a hymn for all who yearn for freedom and the choruses in
the Act II finale a celebration of the triumph of love and justice.”98 With the opera’s assumed
associations to the French Revolution, it is fitting that Beethoven takes the opportunity to use the
chorus as the collective voice of the people, a practice frequently used by operatic composers.
96 Douglas Johnson, "Fidelio," The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, Grove Music Online, Oxford Music Online,
Oxford University Press, accessed February 13, 2015,
http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/grove/music/O005704 97 James Parakilas, The Story of Opera (New York: W.W. Norton, 2013), 267. 98 Paul A. Robinson, Ludwig van Beethoven, Fidelio, Cambridge Opera Handbooks (New York: Cambridge
University Press, 1996), 117.
48
One of the most impactful ways Beethoven presents the ideal of freedom is in Prisoners
Chorus in the Act I Finale. At this point in the opera, the chorus is led into the courtyard for a
brief period of time. Their vocal entrance is born out of a simple yet effective introduction in the
orchestra (Example 4.7).
Example 4.7:
99
There is a certain amount of trepidation in the music before the prisoners begin to sing, which is
to be expected since they have been locked away for some time. The ascending passage in the
strings helps to depict the prisoners climbing out from the depths of the prison. There is sincerity
about the music, which is somewhat unexpected given that prisoners are often viewed negatively
whether warranted or not. The texture and harmony allow the audience to feel compassion for
them, rather than disgust. If Florestan has been wrongfully imprisoned, it is more than likely that
at least some of them have been too. With this association, the prisoners become the collective
voice of freedom. As the introduction begins to grow in confidence so too do the prisoners.
The prisoners’ entrance (Example 4.8) is arguably the most lyrical music that has been
heard in the first act of Fidelio, with the exception of Leonora’s previous aria. The bass II’s are
the first to sing, “O welche Lust! (Oh, what joy!).” The remaining voices repeat these words
99 Ludwig van Beethoven, Fidelio (New York: G. Schirmer, 1935), 88.
49
with staggered entrances. At m. 26, all voices rejoice together in a refreshing, homophonic
texture. They are now resolved to act as one. This continues until the tenor solo, which marks a
noticeably different section in the music. The tenor soloist turns to the heavens and proclaims
that it is God who shall free them from this oppression. Like that of the rising passage in the
introduction of the finale, the bassoons move upwards by step symbolizing the ascent to heaven
(Example 4.9). This orchestral passage returns when the full chorus sings “O Himmel! Rettung!
Welch ein Gluck! O Freiheit, o freitheit, kehrst du zuruck? (O Heaven! Rescue! Blessed boon! O
freedom, wilt thou come soon?).” As the prisoners grow in their desire to be freed so too do the
dynamics begin to swell symbolizing strength.
50
Example 4.8:
100
The next passage of music marks a third section within the opening of the finale. Having just
uttered the word “freedom,” the chorus is ever mindful of the guard’s constant watch.
Beethoven begins the section in quasi-secco recitative (Example 4.10) with a bass soloist who
cautions his fellow prisoners: “Sprecht leise haltet euch zurück, Wir sind belauscht mit Ohr und
Blick (Speak softly, keep away from here, They spy on us with eye and ear).”101 The rich texture
that started the finale seems to retract itself in this exposed section of quasi-recitative. Although
this is not a long passage of music, the audience is left to feel the anxiety that the prisoners feel,
due to the weight of the guard’s watchful eye. The responding choral lines are jagged in nature
100 Ibid. 101 Beethoven, Fidelio, 93.
51
and deeply contrast with the previous lyricism. The ascending passage in the bassoons is now
heard in inversion, which symbolizes feelings of oppression (Example 4.11).
Example 4.9:
102
The introductory material returns (“O, welche Lust”) as the guard moves away from the
prisoners, but only briefly. The prisoners’ illusion of freedom has come to an end. Their
paranoia of being watched returns in both the text and music. This also coincides with them
being led back within the prison walls.
102 Ibid., 92.
53
If the prisoners represent the ideal of freedom, there must be an opposing force in the
opera. It is vital for the opera’s drama. Beethoven personifies injustice with the introduction of
the opera’s villain, Pizarro. He is the overseer of the prison and “is a raging personification of
aristocratic tyranny: obsessed with personal honor, personalistic in the performance of his state
functions, as corrupt as he is corrupting.”105 His aria, “Ha! Welch’ ein Augenblick,” both
textually and musically do much to shape the audience’s interpretation of him. It is this moment
in the opera that Pizarro announces his revenge on Florestan, as he represents a threat to his total
control and power. Bokina aptly describes Pizarro as an “enemy of freedom and reason,” the
ideals by which Fidelio and Florestan live by.
The aria opens with deeply agitated music and the tempo is marked Allegro agitato
(Example 4.12). The orchestra’s first dynamic is pianissimo but then surges into a series of
sforzandi before Pizarro’s vocal entrance. The three “Ha’s,” which open the vocal line establish
Pizarro’s smugness. There is also a particular rhythmic pattern in his vocal line, which
Beethoven reiterates throughout the aria.
105 Bokina, Opera and Politics: From Monteverdi to Henze, 82.
54
Example 4.12:
106
This repeated rhythmic gesture generates a feeling of uncontained rage. Its syncopation creates a
powerful impact in terms of Pizarro’s characterization. Another significant example of this
comes in the three-repeated “Triumphs” with the baritone close to the top of his range
(Example 4.13).
106 Beethoven, Fidelio, 61.
55
Example 4.13:
107
The chorus enters at the end of the aria, now as guards, but does not take on an active voice.
This deeply contrasts their role in in the Act I Finale. There is no lyricism about their singing
and their vocal line sits at the bottom of their range. They are left subordinate to Pizzaro’s vocal
line and his game of vengeance, speaking only of their “prison rounds” (Example 4.14).
Example 4.14:
108
It is vitally important that Beethoven establishes this dark force for the audience. He does this
effectively in his composition of Pizarro’s vocal line, as well as the orchestration below. The
entire aria feels as though it is driving forward with unbridled power. The way in which the
107 Ibid., 66. 108 Ibid.
56
chorus interacts with Pizarro is also revealing with regard to his assumed power. They are
subordinate to him out of fear for what he could do. This aria is crucial to understanding the
work politically. There is nothing for Fidelio and Florestan to rise above without Pizzaro.
Devoid of the opera’s villain, there is no context for their yearning for freedom.
At the start of Act II, the role of Florestan is introduced for the first time. The scene
begins in a “dark, subterranean dungeon” far from the glimpses of freedom that the prisoners felt
at the end of the previous act. While one of the central characters within the opera, “Florestan is
never able to act as a true hero. Having been shackled to a rock for two years in the prison’s
deepest dungeon and more recently weakened by the cuts of his rations, he can merely recount
the heroic action which brought him to his fate and invoke the memory of his devoted wife as
solace.”109 Beethoven’s extended orchestral introduction for this scene is fittingly haunting. The
composer takes his audience on an emotional journey into the oppressive depths of the prison.
To make the introduction any shorter would have been inappropriate with regard to an
understanding of Florestan’s physical and emotional suffering. Like that of solidifying the
drama’s villain in Pizarro, it is equally important to establish for the audience what Fidelio is
fighting for. She fights for not only her husband but the ideals of freedom and justice.
Like that of the prisoners in the Act I Finale, it is not surprising for Florestan to speak of
freedom in his opening aria. In fact, the word “freiheit (freedom)” can be found some nine times
in the aria’s closing section. While Florestan begins the recitative in a state of direness he soon
resolves to accept his plight in life. This can be heard in the music. The aria turns heroic in the
Poco allegro section as he envisions seeing his wife Leonora. He is filled with rapturous joy as
109 Bokina, Opera and Politics, 75.
57
it is she who will free him. The high tessitura alternates between G4 and A4 with a number of
high Bb4’s on the word “reich (kingdom).” The orchestration is valiant in nature as Florestan
proclaims that he will find his freedom albeit an illusion (Example 4.15).
Example 4.15:
110
What further perpetuates the political dynamic for the audience is the fact that Florestan’s
imprisonment has been deemed unjust. It is this injustice, which motivates all of Fidelio’s action
in the opera. Her love for her husband, and more importantly her desire to set him free, provide
her one and only motivation.
The final example from Fidelio, which addresses the opera’s political themes, is the
Act II Quartet, “Er Sterbe!”
Thus when Leonore steps between the tyrannical Pizarro and Florestan with her
pistol, the force of inhumanity is temporarily checked by the counter-force of
110 Beethoven, Fidelio, 147.
58
humanity. Then the famous trumpet call is heard, according to Ernst Bloch,
“pronouncing the Savior’s arrival.” That is to say, in Fidelio, Beethoven’s music
proves itself to be the aesthetic representation of the timeless resistance against
the inhuman.111
This marks the most important sequence in the opera. Leonora is willing to sacrifice her life for
that of her husband. While she does brandish a pistol, there is no knowing what might happen
next. That is why the trumpet calls, and in essence, the music, become so pivotal not only for the
lives of those in the depths of the prison but also for political justice. It confirms for the
audience that freedom will prevail with the arrival of the minister, Don Fernando (Examples 4.16
& 4.17).
Example 4.16:
112
111 Ramin Jahanbegloo, “The Spirit of Fidelio: Resistance Against the Inhuman,” (October 15, 2012), accessed
February 13, 2015, http://jahanbegloo.com/content/spirit-fidelio-resistance-against-inhuman. 112 Beethoven, Fidelio, 180.
59
Example 4.17:
113
Another example of institutional ideology addressed in opera is Meyerbeer’s Les
Huguenots. The work is an example of grand opera and premiered in Paris on February 29,
1836. The libretto was written by Eugene Scribe and Emile Deschamps. The confrontation
between Protestants and Catholics was a popular subject of the time. In addition to this opera, it
was used in numerous play settings of the 1820’s and in novels including Mérimée’s Chronique
du règne de Charles IX (1829). Mérimée’s novel was used in the creation of Hérold’s opéra
comique, Le pré aux clercs (1832).114
In Act IV of the Les Huguenots, Meyerbeer presents the Catholics conspiring against the
Huguenots (Protestants). The drama directly references the historical events of the St.
Bartholomew Massacre where thousands of lives were lost. As Parakilas notes, the composer’s
113 Ibid., 181. 114 Steven Huebner, "Huguenots, Les," The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, Grove Music Online, Oxford Music
Online, Oxford University Press, accessed August 25, 2016,
http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/grove/music/O008109
60
approach is interesting with respect to how the Catholics are presented. The typical approach in
opera is to present those conspiring as those seeking freedom from oppression. Meyerbeer,
however, reverses this role with the conspirators representing the powerful monarchy and
Catholic Church. The audience is thus left with an unsympathetic view of their conspiring since
they are not seeking freedom, but intolerant control. Perhaps even more unusual is the fact there
are Catholics presented in the act who are against attacking the Protestants. Normally, opponents
of the cause would be left out of such a scene.115
In Act V of the opera, Valentine (who is Catholic) agrees to convert to Raoul’s faith so
that they can marry one another. Shortly thereafter, Catholic assassins descend upon them
shooting Raoul. Valentine’s father, Saint-Bris, comes upon them and learning that they are
Huguenots, orders them to be killed. Tragically, Saint-Bris does not realize that his daughter
Valentine is amongst them. On a personal level, this final act is important for it shows two
individuals (Valentine and Raoul) moving beyond their religious differences to find unity in one
another. This is done by Valentine’s brave conversion to Raoul’s faith. Valentine also shows
the outstanding ability to forgive as she tells her father that she will pray for him even though he
was the one who killed her. Perhaps more disturbing though is the presentation of religious
fanaticism evidenced in both the behavior and plotting of the Catholics and Protestants against
one another. Raoul could have converted to Catholicism or lied about his own faith when the
assassins came upon him. This would have saved his life, as well as Valentine’s. So entrenched
in his own faith, however, he accepts the grave consequences of standing up for his own religion.
In his actions, as well as those of Saint-Bris and the conspirators, Meyerbeer presents the
powerful grip and dire consequences that religious fanaticism can have on one’s beliefs. Thus,
115 Parakilas, The Story of Opera, 286.
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Parakilas aptly defines the opera’s overarching theme by stating that “fanaticism breeds more
fanaticism.”116 A similar type of fanaticism is without a doubt present in The Crucible amongst
the church goers and witchcraft accusers.
D. Allegory
A fourth way in which an opera can be political is in its allegorical associations. As has been
previously stated, one of the motivating factors for Arthur Miller in writing The Crucible was the
connection he was able to make between the witch-hunts of Salem 1962 and those taking place
in the 1950s. Miller was fascinated by the events of Salem since his days as a student, but
finally, the political climate in Washington necessitated a type of response, albeit a thinly veiled
one.117 The play and subsequent operatic adaptation serve as stories within themselves.
The most vivid example of this allegorical association comes in the Act III courtroom
scene when Giles Corey and the Proctors are presented before Judge Danforth. This type of
inquisition is probably not unlike those hearings conducted by the House Un-American
Activities Committee.
McCarthyism became a synonym for reckless allegations of communist and pro-
communist attitudes and activities, largely for the purpose of political gain. Not
long after McCarthy was condemned by the Senate in late 1954, Joseph L. Rauh,
Jr., national chairman of Americans for Democratic Action, declared the
McCarthy Era at an end, explaining ‘There was real and rational fear of total war,
directed at specific people – the Communists. It was the deliberate exploitation of
this fear by a group of desperate men in the Republican party that produced
McCarthyism.’118
116 Ibid., 287. 117 Kolt, Robert Ward’s The Crucible: Creating an American Musical Nationalism, 44. 118 Thomas C. Reeves, “McCarthyism: Interpretations since Hofstadter,” The Wisconsin Magazine of History 60,
no. 1 (Autumn 1976): 44.
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A similar “exploitation of fear” existed in Salem in 1692. It occurred in the opening scene of
the opera when Thomas and Ann Putnam convinced Reverend Parris that calling in the
assistance of Reverend Hale was needed for there were witches in Salem.
This fear also existed in Act II when Ezekiel Cheever arrives at the Proctor home to arrest
Elizabeth. Abigail Williams has charged her with using a poppet in an attempt to murder her.
The exchange that follows is here:
HALE: Goody Proctor, do you keep poppets?
ELIZABETH: Why no, not since I was a child.
HALE: Well then, our business here is done.
CHEEVER: But I spy a poppet.
ALL: What! What is it?
CHEEVER: The very poppet, your wife’s poppet. The needle in the belly here, the belly of her
poppet.
ELIZABETH: I do not understand. What signifies this child’s poppet, and this needle?
CHEEVERS: This needle signifies murder, your murder of Abigail Williams.
ELIZABETH: The girl herself is murder! She should be ripped out of this world.
CHEEVER: “Ripped out of this world,” you heard that, ev’ryone, you heard that. “Ripped out of
this world,” the court must hear this.119
Neither Reverend Hale nor Ezekiel Cheever know that Abigail Williams has had an affair with
John. They do not realize the pain that this has caused Elizabeth. Knowing the history between
the two women, it would seem perfectly reasonable for Elizabeth to respond with “the girl
herself is murder! She should be ripped out of this world!” Hale must bring her in to be
119 Ward, The Crucible, 153-154.
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questioned, however, given the information he has. Like Senator McCarthy, Abigail is able to
exploit the fear of those in Salem by making unsubstantiated claims.
This is further demonstrated in the courtroom scene in Act III. After John has confessed
to lechery before Judge Danforth and the entire court, Elizabeth is brought in to corroborate his
story; however, she lies in an attempt to protect her husband. Reverend Hale interjects with the
following:
HALE: No, no it is a natural lie to tell. I beg you, stop now before it is too late. Do not
condemn another innocent, I beg you…there is private vengeance working in these trials.
DANFORTH: But she spoke nothing of lechery. This man has lied.
HALE: I believe him. This girl has always struck me false. She has…
ABIGAIL: Yellow bird!120
What proceeds from this can best be described as pure chaos. As Hale begins to acknowledge
Abigail’s manipulation as “private vengeance” and tries to convince Danforth of such, she
quickly interjects with a series of “yellow birds.” This is to distract the entire court away from
what Hale has just said. She realizes that she may become vulnerable if the questioning is turned
on her. Abigail even cries out that Mary Warren is clawing at her face. When Mary tells her to
stop, Abby just mocks her as if she were in a trance. The rest of the girls follow Abby’s lead and
join in with similar utterings.
John desperately pleads with Mary Warren, to tell the truth that it was her poppet that
Cheever found in the house and that Abby is fabricating the whole story. In an attempt to save
herself, though, Mary accuses John instead. She cries out that he is the “Devil’s Man” and
continues with the following:
120 Ibid., 219-221.
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MARY: “My wife will never hang: we will overthrow the court,” he say. He come and
wake me every night, his eyes like burning coals.
JOHN: Mister Hale.
MARY: His icy fingers claw my back, “sign the book; sign the Devil’s book,” he say.
And I sign.
HALE: Your Honor, the girl is mad;
JOHN: Mary!
HALE: …stark raving mad.
JOHN: Mary!
MARY: No, I love God.121
It is interesting how Abigail is able to exploit the fear of the court and specifically, Mary Warren.
Despite Hales’ own admission that he feels Abigail is not to be trusted, the mob mentality takes
hold of the court and turns on John Proctor. John came before the court to save his wife but now
is accused of conspiring with the devil himself. The Crucible “is at its most powerful in [the
courtroom] scene because the playwright is dramatizing with clean precision the process by
which psychological terror in the service of a clear and present evil may paralyze the collective
mind and will of society.”122 This is clearly felt in Ward’s adaptation.
In Act IV of the opera, a chilling exchange takes place between Danforth and Hale. Hale
warns the judge that the court in Beverly has been overthrown and this too could happen in
Salem. Parris quickly enters the scene to inform them that Abigail has fled town and stolen
money from him. Hale is confident that with this new information the Judge will release the
Proctors; however, that is not the case.
HALE: Now where’s your case against the Proctors? Who now stands against them?
121 Ibid., 232-234. 122 Ferres, "Introduction," in 20th Century Interpretations of The Crucible, ed. John H. Ferres, 19.
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DANFORTH: I do. I do by God. Beguile yourselves no more. For they shall confess or
they shall hang. Till justice is done I shall remain.
PARRIS: But your Honor, those we hang this morning are a very dangerous sort. These
people carry great weight in the town. Rebecca Nurse upon the gibbet will wake a
vengeance against us. Today, today when I open my door a glittering dagger clatters to
the floor.
DANFORTH: What are you asking? Come to the point.
HALE: Postpone these hangings. Say you strive for confessions.
DANFORTH: I’ll do no such. And know you this: to quell rebellion in this land I’d
draw and quarter ten thousand men. While I speak God’s law I will no crack His voice
with whimpering.123
What is disturbing about this scene is the unwillingness of Danforth to see through Abigail’s lies.
Or if he does acknowledge that she is fabricating the whole story, for him, it is more important
that the town respects his authority than clear the names of John Proctor and Rebecca Nurse. In
this scene, it becomes evident that Danforth perverts his power in the name of religion to control
the narrative. In his opinion, the people must fear him and his authority.
At the end of the opera, John says that he will confess to witchcraft to save his life;
however, he refuses to sign the confession. Judge Danforth will not accept any other course of
action. Here is their exchange:
DANFORTH: Do you sport with me? Sign or there is no confession.
PROCTOR: But why must I sign? All of you have heard my confession.
PARRIS: The village must have proof.124
The spectacle has gone on too long for Danforth not to have proof to show the rest of the village,
even if it is a lie. He must illustrate that he has been successful in his pursuit of freeing Salem of
its witches. He cannot claim to have solved the issue without a signed confession from Proctor.
123 Ward, The Crucible, 254-258. 124 Ibid., 275.
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The problem, however, is that he does not account for John’s internal struggle of his own
morality. John sees that Rebecca Nurse refuses to confess nor sign her name. Verbally
confessing to witchcraft is one matter as it will save his life. Nailing his confession to the church
door for all to see, however, would be the ultimate betrayal of truth and goodness and John
cannot do it. He sings:
PROCTOR: I am John Proctor, I have three sons. If this is nailed to the church door on
the very day that Rebecca hangs for her silence, how can I teach my sons to walk like
men? With my sins I blacken them forever. You may tell them I confessed myself. Tell
them Proctor broke his knees. Tell them what you will, but I shall not sign.125
The final scene is a critical point in the opera. It serves both as a public refusal, but more
importantly, personal closure for John. He has lived with such darkness in his heart that he has
forgotten what is good. Although it will cost him his life, by refusing to sign the document he
can save his name. For what that name represents is the truth. He saves the truth by giving his
life. It is deeply haunting that such an atrocity could happen to innocent people. Power and
authority are important to social structure, but this serves as a constant reminder about what the
exploitation of fear can cause. Modern society must remain ever vigilant to unsubstantiated
claims, especially when it affects the lives of innocent people.
125 Ibid., 277-278.
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Chapter Five –
The lens of relationship in The Crucible
Quite often the personal is taken out of politics, but for opera it is essential. When analyzing the
political, people often neglect motivations or relationships, but opera can help demonstrate an
important point that there are often personal reasons underlying a political situation. It is easy to
forget that there were mothers and fathers, sons and daughters lost as a result of the hangings in
Salem 1692. Reputations were destroyed at the hands of false accusations from good Christian
men and women. They turned their back on their neighbors with help from an all too
authoritative government. But one must ask why these people did such things. What was their
motivation? Opera can help illustrate answers to such questions. However complicated or
simple a political issue may be, at the heart of politics there are people and without them, it
simply cannot exist.
To understand an opera one must look upon its central characters and their relationships
with one another. Without a wife’s unwavering love for her husband, an unjust imprisonment is
not rectified. Without an attempt by two different countries to find common ground, one does
not realize that despite differences all humans have similar fears. Without a once good man
coming to terms with his own fleeting power and how his actions affect others, there is no
recognition that class does not have to matter when it comes to intelligence.
It can be argued that to truly understand the political nature of a work, analysis must first
seek to understand the people of the story. It is easy to make a surface-level assessment of
individuals. What greater ideal do they represent? This can be an easy answer if they belong to
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a particular ideology as a certain understanding of their beliefs could be assumed. That,
however, is not enough for opera.
Opera requires one to look deeper at the situation. Why can an audience both love and
hate John Proctor at the end of The Crucible? It is because they have an understanding of who
he is through his relationships. Whether one agrees with his positions is secondary in a quest to
understand the opera politically. By looking at the individual first and thereby his or her
relationships there is the potential for a better understanding of them and subsequently, a more
inclusive assessment of the political dynamics in opera. At the heart of every political opera,
there exists a relationship or two, which becomes a vital component of the work. While a
political idea, theme, or event may draw an audience to a particular piece, it is these
relationships, which become fundamental.
As previously stated, The Crucible represents a time in history where one could be
accused of being a witch and could hang for it. There was little evidence needed to convict
someone. Those in Salem “felt free to act precisely because they had no doubts about the justice
and righteousness of their cause. To them, civil laws and the laws of God were nearly the same
thing; consequently, they allowed no dissent.”126 This certainly provided a way for Miller to tie
the events of Salem and Washington together in the original conception of the work. This is also
highlighted in Ward’s opera; the fact that no one seemed to question why someone was making
an allegation in the first place. No one was held accountable for their accusations. To
understand the work, however, one must seek to comprehend the personal back story of its main
characters and what led them to this point. Thus, the single most important question when
126 James J. Martine, The Crucible: Politics, Policies, and Pretense (New York: Twayne Publishers, 1993), 5.
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analyzing the opera is why did Abigail Williams charge Elizabeth Proctor of witchcraft in the
first place?
With this question in mind, The Crucible allows the audience to move beyond witchcraft.
“The Crucible, while based on historical events of the Salem trials of 1692, is not merely a work
about blind, religious fanaticism and rampant hysteria. It is also concerned with commitment
and the often fragile nature of relationships: husband and wife, man and neighbor, the individual
and the community, man and his God.”127 It provides an exploration into the life of a farmer and
his relations with his estranged wife, and his former mistress. If it were not for John’s affair with
his former servant, it is plausible that these events could have been much different, at least with
respect to the Proctor’s involvement. Abigail ultimately accuses Elizabeth of being a witch as a
way of getting back with John. This was one of the fascinating realities for Miller when he first
conceived of the play: that Abigail refused to accuse John of being a witch like she does his
wife.128 She refuses to do so because she still is in love with him albeit an immature adoration.
It is Abigail seeking revenge on Elizabeth that creates much of hysteria in Salem. It creates a
domino effect of destruction, however, provides John with the opportunity for his own
redemption.
A. The Relationship of John and Elizabeth
In his dissertation, “A comparative analysis of dramatic works and their twentieth-century
operatic adaptations,” Fox writes that Elizabeth takes on a larger role in the opera due to
deliberate changes made by Ward and his librettist, Bernard Stambler. These musical and textual
127 Larry Phillip Fox, “A comparative analysis of dramatic works and their twentieth-century operatic adaptations”
(PhD diss., University of South Carolina, 1992),79. 128 M. W. Steinberg, “Arthur Miller and the Idea of Modern Tragedy,” in 20th Century Interpretations of The
Crucible, ed. John H. Ferres (Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1972), 100.
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changes serve to better define her relationship with John, as well as make her a more central
operatic figure.”129 Elizabeth’s enhancement in the opera paves the way for a greater
understanding of the dynamic between her and her husband. Elizabeth is vital to John’s own
development. Without her support, he cannot become the tragic hero in the end. As will be seen
in the following examples, the state of the Proctor marriage develops and matures over the
course of the opera.
1. Act II
There is a stark contrast in the musical material, which opens Act II with that of Act I. The
frantic ways of the Parris home are relieved as the action moves to the Proctor farm. At the start
of Act II, Ward provides the audience with its first real glimpse of John Proctor. Perhaps similar
to a Wagnerian leitmotif, Ward introduces John Proctor with his own musical theme in the
opening orchestral passage (Example 5.18).130
Example 5.18a:
131
129 Fox, “A comparative analysis of dramatic works and their twentieth-century operatic adaptations,” 92. 130 Woliver, “Robert Ward’s The Crucible: a critical commentary,” 52. 131 Ward, The Crucible, 110.
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There is a sense of freedom to this music and an earthiness reflective of a man of nature. This
moving passage, which features heavy brass and strings, repeats twice. This theme returns at the
start of John’s vocal entrance.
Example 5.18b:
132
In John’s opening soliloquy, the audience is exposed to the depths of his yearning for
better days. He cannot wait for the fields to turn green again. For John, there is optimism in the
fact that despite the dark days of winter there will be better ones ahead. It is hard not to draw a
parallel between this and his marriage. He yearns to move past the darkness of his affair.
This powerful music is interrupted with Elizabeth’s first vocal entrance. There is
skepticism in the music, which accompanies her first words: “What keeps you so late, it’s nearly
dark?” The music quickly returns to John’s theme. When he says “pray you now for a warm
and speedy summer,” Elizabeth responds with pessimism, concluding that no prayer of hers is
ever answered. He suggests that she bring flowers into the house because it is “still like winter
in here.” This has both literal and figurative meaning. John wants to move on from his past
affair; however, Elizabeth is still in pain as result of his infidelity. John concludes his aria with a
repeated line “it’s a good time is Spring Time!” With spring there is the opportunity for a fresh
132 Ibid.
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start. Winter is a metaphor for Elizabeth’s brokenness while spring represents John’s desire to
move forward.
This optimism gives way to the reality that is his wife. Elizabeth is skeptical of why he is
returning home so late. The temperature in the Proctor marriage could be best described as cold
and sterile at the start of Act II. “The crime of adultery that Elizabeth continues to probe and to
worry over has already been adequately punished and repented for, but Elizabeth will never
permit herself to forget it.”133 It is clear that Elizabeth no longer trusts John.
The tension only increases when John learns that Abigail is leading the witchcraft
accusations in Salem. Elizabeth pleads with her husband to set the record straight. He must tell
Salem that Abby is lying, but all he can muster is that “He’ll think on it!” She pushes him
further inferring that if he refuses to go to Salem, it must be that he does not want harm to come
to Abigail. John explodes with:
JOHN: Let you not judge me. Let you look to your own improvement. I’ve forgotten
Abigail, do you understand? I’ve forgotten, but you forget nothin’ you forgive nothin’.
Learn charity Elizabeth. I’ve gone tiptoe in this house since she is gone. I have not
moved from here to there without I think to try and to please you. And still an everlastin’
fun’ral marches around your heart. I cannot speak but I am doubted, every moment
judged for lies as tho’ I come into a court when I come into this house… 134
This passage gives evidence to the rockiness of the Proctor marriage. The references to an
“everlastin’ fun’ral” and “court” are particularly spiteful remarks. It is clear that John is
frustrated that Elizabeth cannot move on from the past like he has. That, of course, is easier for
John as he is the one who cheated. He takes for granted Elizabeth’s feelings in his eagerness to
move on. He does, however, shed light on the fact that in order for them to restore their marriage
she must find a way to forgive him.
133 Ferres, "Introduction," in 20th Century Interpretations of The Crucible, ed. John H. Ferres, 79. 134 Ward, The Crucible, 121-123.
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John goes on further to make the point that Abby will retaliate if he goes to Salem to
expose her fraud. What that ultimately means is that his lechery will be exposed and they will
have to deal with the damage it will cause their reputation in Salem. The section ends with a
passionate demand of “I tell you judge me not!” Ward masterfully ends this passage on a high F,
which is at the top of the baritone’s range, adding further tension to the situation.
Rather than exploding herself, Elizabeth coldly responds with the following remark to
John:
ELIZABETH: I do not judge you John. The court that judges you sits in your own
heart.135
What is interesting is the ramifications that this line has at the end of the opera. It is this moral
“court,” which prevents John from signing his name to a false confession. By admitting to his
affair later in the opera he frees himself from the burden that his secret inflicts. As passionate as
John’s previous vocal passages were, he is immediately put in his place by Elizabeth. The state
of their marriage is a direct result of his actions, not hers. But now, with innocent people being
accused of witchcraft, Elizabeth feels that her husband has the moral obligation to do something
about it. Furthermore, she believes that Abigail will not damn herself and expose their affair.
Elizabeth’s aria ends with these powerful lines:
ELIZABETH: All this week I’ve been haunted by fear of what she may do next. She
has an arrow in you yet, and she will twist it home. You must tear yourself free of her,
free of her! You must, John, you must, you must. You will tear yourself free of her. For
know that I will be your only wife, know that John, your only wife, or no wife at all.136
What Elizabeth ultimately fears is that she will be replaced as a result of a soft place in John’s
heart for Abby. It is clear that she still loves her husband, but he must prove that he is willing to
135 Ibid., 127. 136 Ibid., 133-135.
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do all he can to redeem the situation. By ignoring the present witchcraft accusations, John
ignores Elizabeth’s feelings. By refusing to act, he minimizes her and the importance of their
marriage. Elizabeth does much in the way of John’s personal development in the opera as she
forces him to once and for all face Abigail.
In this first encounter between John and Elizabeth, there is a division both textually and
musically. Ward purposely avoids a duet vocally between the two. Instead, he has their lines
interject with one another. This contrasts the end of the opera when they have made their peace
and sing together.137 This opening scene sets in motion John’s own redemption. Elizabeth
makes it very clear that John must choose a side.
2. Act III, Courtroom Scene
The second moment in the opera that is significant in John and Elizabeth’s relationship is the Act
III Courtroom scene. At the end of Act II, Elizabeth has been taken away as a result of Abigail’s
accusing her of trying to murder her. While hopeful that Mary Warren will testify that this is all
a lie, John quickly realizes that in order to expose Abigail as a fraud he must admit to his
lechery. This public confession is important for it serves as proof that he is putting his wife first.
He is willing to bare his past sins for the sake of the truth. By admitting to his affair with Abigail
though, he leaves himself wide open to her retaliation.
What is ironic and further perpetuates the dramatic tension in this scene is the fact that
Elizabeth lies about John’s affair when pressed by Judge Danforth. She does so in an attempt to
save him and his name. This is ironic though since “[f]or seventeenth-century Puritans, the
worst of sins was to lie, which represented a breaking of one’s faith, one’s reputation, one’s
137 Kolt, Robert Ward’s The Crucible: Creating an American Musical Nationalism, 82.
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name. But name for Miller’s character means not only one’s reputation but being true to
oneself.”138 This makes the scene complicated and tragic. In order to save his name, John must
expose the truth, which will surely damage his reputation in the town. The honest Elizabeth is
keen on how those in Salem will view him and their family. Ironically then, she decides to lie
and thus damns herself.
Nonetheless, for Elizabeth, this is a turning point in the opera, as well. Despite all her
anger and pain she ultimately chooses to protect her husband.
DANFORTH: Look at me. To your knowledge did John Proctor commit the crime of
lechery with Abigail Williams?
ELIZABETH: Oh, no sir, no.
DANFORTH: Remove her, remove her Mister Parris.
JOHN: Elizabeth, tell the truth… Elizabeth, Elizabeth, I have confessed it.
ELIZABETH: Oh John, oh John, my God!139
Although the result of her lie is that the town turns on John and thus, seems like a grave mistake,
it is important in the way of restoring their marriage. Both John confessing to lechery and
Elizabeth lying to save her husband are done in an attempt to preserve what they have. “All
attention goes to [Elizabeth] as she is asked the critical question. And, for once, in a moment of
high excitement and suspense, this model of truthfulness lies because she values something more
than the truth—her husband’s good name.”140 If Elizabeth has contempt for John, she surely
would have relished the town knowing his lecherous acts. She would rather live with the pain of
his affair and lie than have him suffer any backlash. This same type of unconditional love exists
in the Fidelio. Leonora is willing to risk it all to save her husband.
138 Martine, The Crucible: Politics, Policies, and Pretense, 64. 139 Ward, The Crucible, 217-219. 140 Ferres, "Introduction," in 20th Century Interpretations of The Crucible, ed. John H. Ferres, 81.
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3. Act IV
The third and most critical interaction between the Proctors comes in Act IV. Judge Danforth
has agreed to spare John’s life, but only if he confesses to being a witch. Here is their exchange:
JOHN: Elizabeth, I’ve been thinkin’ that I would confess. What say you?
ELIZABETH: As you will, so I would have it. But John, I want you living.
JOHN: I cannot mount the gibbet like a saint. Will you forgive me if I lie?
ELIZABETH: John, oh John, it was my lie that brought you here. I, not you, should ask
forgiveness. It’s a cold wife that drives her man to lechery.
JOHN: No, no. I will not hear it.
ELIZABETH: I counted myself so very plain, so poorly made, that no honest love could
come to me. Suspicion kissed you when I did; I never knew how I should say my love.
But know this now, as I know it. Whatever you will do, it’s a good man’s doing.
JOHN: Whatever I will do, will you forgive me?
ELIZABETH: Whatever you will do, whatever way you go, oh John, I will go by your
side.
In this moment, the audience witnesses the restoration of the Proctor marriage. Both admit to
making mistakes, but they forgive each other. This still leaves John, however, with a decision to
make.
John wrestles with the notion of being “good” throughout the opera. He has worn a
façade of sorts in the town until his Act III confession. While he has never had the respect of all
those in Salem as evidenced by his interaction with Thomas Putnam in Act I, he and his family
were always thought of as being good people. As a result of the hysteria in Salem though, the
town has turned on him and his name. That is why it is so important that Elizabeth reaffirms
John as a good man.
For Puritans, “[r]eputation served as an indispensable guide to the state of grace, for it
was an outward sign of election.”141 That is why John refuses to sign his name to his confession.
141 Ibid., 82.
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He must preserve his name for the sake of his soul. If he chooses to lie to save his life his good
name means nothing for he will have submitted to a false truth. Surely, that is not the action of a
good person. Though it costs him his life, by refusing to sign his name he is able to restore his
own goodness. He sings:
JOHN: I can [hang]. And there’s your first marvel that I can. You have made your
magic now. For now I do think I see some shred of goodness, some goodness in John
Proctor. It’s not enough to weave a banner with, but white enough to keep it from such
dogs…142
John is unable to make this decision though without Elizabeth’s blessing. Her saying that she
will be by his side whatever he chooses gives him the courage to refuse to sign his confession.
He very well could have signed his name to save his life, but he would have to live with the guilt
of turning his back on himself and God.
The idea of goodness returns in the last line of the opera sung by Elizabeth. Here is the
exchange below.
DANFORTH: Hang them high over the town! Who weeps for these weeps for
corruption.
REBECCA: I’ve had no breakfast.
PARRIS: Go to him, go to him, Goody Proctor, there is yet time.
HALE: Please with him, plead with woman! It is pride. It is vanity. Be his helper.
What profit him to die? Shall the dust praise him? Shall the worm declare his truth? Go
to him, go to him, woman. Take away his shame.
ELIZABETH: He have his goodness now. God forbid I take it from him.143
142 Ibid., 281-283. 143 Ibid.
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Elizabeth’s “greatest advance is reaching the point, in the… ultimate moment, when she can
recognize and understand her husband’s motivation as she allows him to go to his death…”144
By forgiving her husband, Elizabeth frees John to restore his name and thereby frees his soul.
B. The Relationship of John and Abigail
Every drama needs a villain and Abigail Williams is the perfect one. She has the power to
manipulate all those she encounters and uses that facility to effectively brainwash most of Salem.
Some might argue that the role of Judge Danforth is villainous too; however, the difference is
that he believed that there were witches in Salem. While he is ignorant in his theocracy, he is
only in Salem as a result of the hysteria, which Abby perpetuates. She represents the dark side of
John Proctor; a side that he has kept hidden from all those in town.
It could be argued that throughout the opera John Proctor struggles to maintain his own
self-image while carrying the burden of his infidelity. The town of Salem believes him to be a
man of great character, but his extramarital relations have torn his personal life apart. At the
heart of his infidelity are the unresolved feelings he has for Abigail. Although John has been
forthright with Elizabeth regarding his affair, Abigail continues to have a significant impact on
his life.
The role of Abigail is the most important character in the opera, second to only John
Proctor. While the opera unveils John’s journey towards ultimate redemption, Abigail’s
relentless pursuit of destroying the lives of others is a necessary evil. What is more important,
however, is to understand why she did the things she did. Without this information, Ward’s
operatic adaptation would be left incomplete.
144 Martine, The Crucible: Politics, Policies, and Pretense, 55.
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1. Act III, Scene in the Woods
The first important interaction between John and Abigail is the opening scene of Act III where
the audience sees them together for the first time. Interestingly, the scene was deleted by Arthur
Miller after the play’s opening performance. Miller only included it at the request of the stage
director but decided later that it ought not to be in the play. It seems fortuitous then that Ward
attended a performance of the play by the Manhattan Theatre Club. In their revival of The
Crucible, they included the deleted scene.145 Ward felt that “were the scene combined with the
Act I confrontation between Proctor and Abigail (in which the fraudulent witchcraft accusations
are exposed), character development would be enhanced by revealing important nuances of their
relationship.”146 These “nuances” are vital to understanding the effect that Abigail still has on
John.
Since Ward had a good working relationship with the playwright during composition, he
received permission from Miller to use the scene, as well as to make changes to the text and its
placement in the opera. Kolt writes that:
The scene serves as a dramaturgical respite between Elizabeth Proctor’s
emotionally charged arrest and the forthcoming courtroom drama. This scene
afforded Ward the opportunity to develop further the characterizations of John
Proctor and Abigail Williams. The scene was originally written into the play, but
was later cut by Miller. Ward and Stambler, however, saw it as being significant
to furthering the drama.147
Without Abigail Williams, the opera lacks substance. As cited earlier, there were other reasons
why someone might accuse another of witchcraft, but stolen property hardly provides an
interesting backstory. There is a motive with Abigail’s unresolved passion for John and
145 Kolt, Robert Ward’s The Crucible: Creating an American Musical Nationalism, 58. 146 Ibid., 58. 147 Ibid., 150.
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subsequent hatred for Elizabeth. And “by placing [the scene] in act three, the action has
progressed to the point of Elizabeth’s arrest – an event precipitated by Abigail, who, as a result,
appears even more despicable and cleverly manipulative.”148 Without the dramatic triangle of
John, Elizabeth, and Abigail, the opera would lack a compelling story. Ward recognizes the
need to include this particular interaction so that his audience can understand a “whore’s
vengeance.”
Abigail Williams is “the antagonist of the opera. She is seventeen and possessed with an
infatuation for John. Ward characterizes Abigail as a sensuous girl who twists her sexual
feelings and mock spirituality into a pious self-righteousness.”149 Like the previous acts with
respect to setting the mood, this type of sensuality is evident in the orchestral opening of Act III.
(Example 5.19).
148 Fox, “A comparative analysis of dramatic works and their twentieth-century operatic adaptations,” 101. 149 Woliver, “Robert Ward’s The Crucible: a critical commentary,” 58.
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Example 5.19:
150
The dynamic swells within the orchestra create a feeling of serious passion. Unlike
John’s Act II motive, there is a sense of unresolved emotion here. The music builds in intensity
before Abigail’s first vocal entrance. Clearly, she has misinterpreted John’s request for a
meeting given her opening phrase:
ABIGAIL: John, I knew you’d come back to me. Night after night, I been waitin’ for
you.
JOHN: No. no, you could not.
ABIGAIL: I cannot sleep for dreamin’, I cannot dream but I wake and walk about
thinkin’ I’d find you comin’ through some door. Oh John, my love. 151
150 Ward, The Crucible, 168. 151 Ibid., 169-170.
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To further support the emotional state of Abigail, Ward uses dynamic extremes almost every
other measure. He uses a series of crescendos and decrescendos, as well as markings of mp then
mf. John tries to interject, but Abby continues with:
ABIGAIL: Come to me now as you came before, like some great stallion pantin’ for me.
We are free now, free to love.152
Abigail hopes to awaken feelings in John that he once had for her, but he continues to protest.
Her vivid imagery of a “great stallion” is meant to lure John back. It is important to note that in
the first measure of each of the two phrases Ward uses a triplet rhythm. This choice helps to
further depict the excitement of Abigail by delaying the arrival of the strong beat. He also
doubles her vocal line in the strings.
As the score indicates, John pushes Abigail away and reestablishes his purpose for the
meeting. He sings:
JOHN: We are not free I say. Elizabeth lies in jail accused by you. The villages lies
under a curse, your curse. That is why I’m here, to tell you must free them. You can and
you must.153
While John’s intentions are very different from Abigail, Ward uses a similar approach in his use
of dynamics. To contrast the doubling which exists in Abigail’s vocal line, however, the
orchestra now moves in frantic, stepwise motion. Coupled with an accelerando, Ward creates a
sense of urgency in the music and vocal line for John must persuade Abigail to confess. Ward
also uses a triplet rhythm here, but on the second beat as opposed to the third and fourth found in
152 Ibid., 170-171. 153 Ibid., 171-172.
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Abigail’s vocal lines. By placing the triplet on different beats, Ward helps differentiate the two
characters and their motivations.
The music moves back to the previous tempo (a tempo piu mosso) as Abigail arrogantly
replies:
ABIGAIL: I am freeing them from their own corruption. I am possessed by the spirit, I
open them to God, these psalm-singin’ hypocrites who say I danced with the Devil. Let
them suffer for it now who must. But someday they will come to me and thank me on
their knees.154
Although both seem to agree about the religious hypocrisy in Salem, this comment outrages John
as he struggles to understand Abigail’s complete disregard for ruining the lives of others. He
cannot accept that someone who he once thought of so fondly could be a “monster of evil.” In a
final effort to change John’s mind Abigail drops her cloak and sings:
ABIGAIL: I look only for John Proctor that took me from my sleep and put knowledge
in my heart. For him that awakened me and taught me to love. Oh John, John you too
are possessed of the spirit of God.155
Clearly a reference to their former sexual relations, John is initially taken aback; however, her
insinuation that her behavior is “God-driven” and that he is in fact just like her, is too much for
him to handle. With a newfound conviction, John mocks her self-described “holy work” in
dramatic fashion. Particularly striking is his “The spirit of God?” as it moves from a high F# to
G. This is at the height of the baritone’s vocal range and therefore, fitting of John’s fury. He
sings:
JOHN: The spirit of God?
ABIGAIL: Leave Elizabeth, your sickly wife…
154 Ibid., 173-174. 155 Ibid., 175-176.
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JOHN: Speak nothin’ of Elizabeth.
ABIGAIL: …together let us do our holy work.
JOHN: Holy work you call it. It’s fraud, pretense and fraud, and I shall expose it.156
This is another turning point in the opera for John as he has now taken his first step toward his
own redemption. In this moment, he makes it clear that he will choose his wife. Expectedly hurt
and stunned, Abigail quickly attacks by saying:
ABIGAIL: Call it what you will. Do what you like. But if your sniveling Elizabeth dies,
remember, remember, it is you who kill her.157
As with the opening phrases analyzed above, Ward uses a vast amount of contrasting dynamics
and tempi to support the drama of the scene.
Of the Scene in the Woods, “Although Ward maintained the common-time meter he
proposed in the manuscript, the rhythmic values, melodic curves, and singers’ vocal ranges were
crafted mainly to highlight Proctor’s desperation and Abigail’s madness.”158 This is surely
evident when watching this interaction unfold. There is a formality in the opera with regard to
the Puritan way and this scene breaks that pattern. Again, as stated above, this is probably the
most crucial interaction for John and Abigail in the opera. It is a necessary step in John’s own
redemption and provides important context regarding their previous relations.
2. Act III, Courtroom Scene
The second important moment with regard to John and Abigail comes later in Act III in the
courtroom scene. Specifically, it is the instant when John confesses to being a lecher. As
156 Ibid., 176-178. 157 Ibid., 178. 158 Kolt, Robert Ward’s The Crucible: Creating an American Musical Nationalism, 152.
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attention is drawn to her by Mary Warren, Abigail tries to distract all those present. Abigail says
that Mary has “cast a shadow” on her. John has had enough with her childish ways and cries out:
JOHN: How do you call heaven? Whore! Whore!
DANFORTH: What! What’s that?
PARRIS: What!
JOHN: I have known her, sir. I have known her.
DANFORTH: You are a lecher?
JOHN: Yes, with her in my own house. And now she thinks to dance with me on my
wife’s grave. And well she might for once I thought on her softly. But this, your Honor,
is a whore’s vengeance.
DANFORTH: Do you deny this?
ABIGAIL: I shall not answer it.
JOHN: I have ruined my name, but now you know the truth. Now you know why my
wife is accused. She knew a whore when she saw one, and put her out on the high
road.159
This marks the beginning of the end for John. It is true that he could have gone on lying about
his past with Abigail and continued to push Danforth to see that it is all a hoax. That, however,
would not give the necessary context for Abigail’s accusations. By admitting to lechery John
provides the court with Abigail’s true motivation for accusing Elizabeth. Thus, the accusations
become more personal than anyone could have imagined. John and Abigail have known each
other in the most intimate way having slept with one another. John even admits that he thought
of her “fondly” at one time, but he cannot stand for the evil that she now facilitates. She is
willing to let people die so that she can be with John. The problem with her plan, however, is
that it is contingent upon John feeling the same way, which of course he does not.
It must not be overlooked how Ward approaches John’s confession. In the most
revealing moment of the opera, the orchestra is held silent (Example 5.20):
159 Ward, The Crucible, 210-213.
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Example 5.20:
160
John is left completely exposed without the support of the orchestra to reveal his affair. He is
naked in front of the court, stripping away his pride in an attempt to save his wife.
3. Act IV
In the opening scene of Act IV, Abigail makes a last attempt with John. It is important to note
that the scene was added to the opera by Ward and his librettist, Bernard Stambler.161 Of the
added scene, the “tragic relationship between her and John and the horrors that it has precipitated
demand recall in the final act.”162 Abigail has arranged safe passage for them out of Salem;
however, John refuses to go with her. Continuing on with her delusional attempt she sings the
following:
ABIGAIL: John, listen, I forgive you. I have come to save you, only you, to take you
away from this town of spite and hate. To a land where it’s sunny and warm, to a land
where it’s sunny and warm, where there’s nothin’ but our love forever, forever, and
ever.163
160 Ibid., 211. 161 Kolt, Robert Ward’s The Crucible: Creating an American Musical Nationalism, 157. 162 Fox, “A comparative analysis of dramatic works and their twentieth century operatic adaptations,” 118. 163 Ward, The Crucible, 248-249.
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Ward provides a final test here for John and the necessary closure between the two characters.
John’s “wordless rejection of Abigail’s offer once again demonstrates the strength of [his]
conviction – he is willing to sacrifice his life rather than compromise his beliefs, whether or not
they are flawed.”164 It would be easy for John to slip away from Salem and the mess with which
the witchcraft accusations have caused. That would mean turning his back on his wife, his
children, and his name, which is not in John’s character.
The scene highlights, once again, a lack of maturity and social awareness in Abigail.
“Each of the other characters in [The Crucible] believes in something… but she believes in
nothing. Her life view allows for the manipulation of others. She is a cynic… Her cynicism
allows for no sense of honor; there a no rules to her games, no boundaries she will not cross.”165
What is interesting here is that Abigail proclaims to want to save John from the “town of spite
and hate.” Yet, she is the root cause of so much of the hysteria in Salem. It is her vengeful acts,
which turned so many of the neighbors against one another. These lines further define Abigail as
the self-centered, destructive mistress. She lives in an idealistic world where she can have
whatever she wants. It is never known what happens to her once John refuses her request to
leave Salem, but Fox points out that she is not “free” in the end. “She has been caught in the trap
of the horrible drama she created, doomed to a life of loneliness and darkness no matter how
much she may want the ‘sunny and warm.’ Abigail, whose voice influenced many and doomed
dozens, is powerless now.”166 Such a fitting end for the sinister character.
Despite the horror she causes both publically and personally for the Proctors, John needs
Abigail Williams. She forces him to make a decision. On the surface, the decision is to save his
164 Laura Benson, “The Twentieth-century Operas of Robert Ward” (PhD dissertation, The University of Western
Ontario, 2010), 132-133. 165 Martine, The Crucible: Politics, Policies, and Pretense, 56. 166 Fox, “A comparative analysis of dramatic works and their twentieth century operatic adaptations,” 118.
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wife and expose Abby’s fraud, which he will stop at no cost to do. Equally important, though, he
is able to save his soul by refusing to sign a false confession. For John, it would be better to die
for his name, which thus represents an unwillingness to buy into the witchcraft hysteria that
Abigail perpetuates. In this, he is able to find his “goodness” and redeem his marriage with
Elizabeth. This cannot happen without the role of Abigail.
C. The Personal in Opera & Other Thoughts
The idea of trying to present the personal in opera is a consideration for all operatic composers
on some level. Events and stories mean nothing without the people behind them. It is worth
mentioning a passage from an interview with American composer John Adams. He discusses his
Nixon in China in a 1988 interview with Andrew Porter:
One of the things about the story that I found so appealing and why I enjoyed
composing it, was the opportunity to move, during the course of three acts, from
the plastic cartoon versions of public people that the media is always presenting
us with, to the real, uncertain, vulnerable human beings who stand behind these
cardboard cutouts… What I wonder, as I see them on television, is whether these
people actually have personal lives, do they have deep private emotions, do they
argue, do they fight, are they nasty with each other when they get alone in their
bedroom? Throughout the course of the opera, we chip away at this public mode,
until finally we reach the third act where we see them in their psychological and
emotional undress.167
This type of “psychological and emotional undress” is also present in Ward’s adaptation of The
Crucible. Ward uncovers the deeper levels of his characters by his focus on the important
relationships in the opera. At the end of The Crucible, John Proctor is left to decide the worth of
167 Andrew Porter and John Adams, “'Nixon in China': John Adams in Conversation,” Tempo, New Series,
Cambridge University Press, no. 167 (Dec. 1988): 26, accessed February 13, 2015,
http://www.jstor.org/stable/945213.
89
his name. The idea of self-worth is not a political issue, but rather something profoundly
personal. Shall he sign a false confession to save his life or refuse? He questions his very being
the same way the characters do in the finale of Nixon in China.
The restless and unsatisfied quality of the final aria of Nixon in China, sung by the role of
Chou, is a far cry from the soaring orchestral opening and President Nixon’s verbose “News”
aria. The texture has noticeably changed with a somber lyricism not heard at any other point in
the opera. The most powerful passage for the audience is Adams’ setting of “How much of what
we did was good?” The music and vocal line are fittingly unsettled (Example 5.21).
Example 5.21:
168
In between sections of Chou’s vocal line, Adams inserts an instrumental passage based on
a two measure ascending motive first sounded by a string player (Example 5.22). This is
repeated three times by both the strings and woodwinds. This motive is then imitated throughout
the remainder of the aria. The dissonant music is deeply troubling and reveals the anxiety and
tension associated with Chou’s innermost fear: that his life has served no meaningful purpose.
168 Adams, Nixon in China, 308.
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Example 5.22a:
169
Example 5.22b:
170
The end of Nixon in China is set with six beds at the front of the stage. The finale explores
the inner fears and concerns of the each of the opera’s main characters: Nixon, Pat, Mao, Chiang
Ch’ing, Chou En-lai, and Kissinger. Adams has said of the finale of his work, “What could be
more intimate and private than your own bed...”171 He could not be more correct. In a work
whose final goal was to reflect the personal, rather than the bigger than life political figures with
which the opera is based on, Adams allows his audience to acknowledge the fact that despite
differences all people are united in their aspirations and fears.
169 Ibid. 170 Ibid., 309. 171 Porter and Adams, “'Nixon in China': John Adams in Conversation,” 27.
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John Proctor is continually negotiating the relationships between the two women in his
life. It is those relationships, which provide the catalyst for his own “psychological and
emotional undress,” as Adams has coined. While certainly his relationship with the town affects
how they view his family, the course of his life within the opera is shaped most significantly by
Elizabeth and Abigail. In Act III, John confesses his deep secret to the world when he speaks of
the affair he had with Abigail. While he was doing it to protect his wife, it also marks a pivotal
point in the opera for him. By confessing, John has turned toward the light. He will no longer
be pulled down by temptation nor the guilt of his past sins. While he agrees to confess to being a
witch to save his life, he wrestles with his relationship to truth in a similar way to the Chou’s,
“How much of what we did was good?” In the end, he cannot fully commit himself to the lie.
He would rather hang than sign his name to a false document. At least then he would be
standing up for his name and what he believes to be true.
When looking at The Crucible there are two levels by which one can analyze the opera.
The opera is a hybrid political work for its historic retelling of the Salem witch trials of 1692 and
its allegorical associations with the McCarthy era. The opera, due to the convention of the form,
however, moves further away from the modern day political associations of its literary
predecessor, and instead, focuses on the relationships of John Proctor.
Like that of Adams’ Nixon in China, the opera moves inward to deal with the personal.
In politics, the personal is often neglected getting lost in the discussion of great ideals and the
large-scale grouping of people, beliefs, and ideologies. For this opera, though, even one with
political content at its very core, it moves beyond this level of realization and provides a window
into the human person. This introspection is not only a consideration for The Crucible but for all
opera.
92
While the witchcraft hysteria calls attention to a time when theocracy was perverted and
authority reigned supreme, this story of Salem 1692 hinges upon John Proctor. Judge Danforth
certainly made up his mind before coming to town that there were witches in Salem and people
were going to hang for it. Yet, that is not the point of the opera nor the play for that matter.
“The real measure of Proctor’s heroism as a standard for today lies in his ultimate discovery that
life is not worth living if it must be preserved by lies told to one’s self and one’s friends.”172 As
discussed previously, this personal discovery and ultimate truth are contingent upon his
relationships with his wife and his former mistress. It is they who ultimately determine his
trajectory in life.
In this work, the personal is exposed in all its splendor and more often than not its
ugliness. Had Abigail not been jealous of Elizabeth in the first place and seeking any means to
get rid of her, perhaps the political climate in Salem would have been much different. While this
is not a new understanding of the situation, what is unique to the form of opera is that it tells that
political story by focusing on the central relationships. Ward’s opera still finds resonance to the
modern day because it deals with situations and emotions that still face humanity.
172 Ferres, "Introduction," in 20th Century Interpretations of The Crucible, ed. John H. Ferres, 8.
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